Melatonin benefits

The benefits of melatonin

Melatonin works both as the hormone that helps manage your sleeping patterns and helps you sleep and as a strong antioxidant that protects your body from all sorts of problems that may be caused by free radicals.
Another important thing to realize when looking at the benefits of melatonin, is the fact that the human body produces melatonin naturally, but starts lowering that production already after the age of 20! That is why older people more often have trouble sleeping and all kinds of other aging problems where taking supplemental melatonin might be of benefit.
Because of this, the melatonin benefits are numerous and we will point out the most obvious ones in this article;

Melatonin for Sleep

Probably the most well known benefit of melatonin is the ability to help you sleep. This is especially the case in older adults, because the older you get, the less melatonin your brain produces. Therefor many older adults may have problems sleeping or may develop insomnia. Not only can the natural circadian rhythms of our bodies be thrown off, but it can cause an individual to become depressed, gain weight, develop high blood pressure and experience trouble concentrating. Not to mention, it increases their risk for conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s and cancer. Taking a melatonin supplement of 3-5 mg can promote sleep will cause your body’s blood levels of melatonin to increase earlier than the brain may accomplish. Acting a mild hypnotic, individuals are able to sleep much better.
Read more about melatonin for sleep.

Melatonin for Headaches

Perhaps one of the less known melatonin benefits; melatonin might help with headaches.
If you have been known to suffer from headaches or migraines, you will be pleased to find that a study proved that taking 3mg melatonin 30 minutes before you go to bed will let you experience a decrease of the amount of migraines that you receive, and they will be less severe when they occur. Over a 3-month period, you can expect the frequency and severity to decrease up to 50%. This has been linked to the anti-inflammatory properties in melatonin acting as an antioxidant.
However, headaches are sometimes also considered to be a side effect of melatonin.
Read more about melatonin headaches.

Melatonin Weight Loss

One melatonin benefit that seems almost to good to be true for a lot of people; Melatonin might help in weight loss!
If you are an individual who seems to struggle with weight loss regardless of everything that you try, melatonin may be of help. A study done on small animals showed that a specific amount of melatonin in these mammals drinking water increased their metabolism and allowed them to lose weight effectively without eating more or even becoming more physically active. While this may not have been a human study, the future with melatonin as a weight loss assistant seems to look quite bright since the same mechanisms occur in humans. Another way melatonin might help with loosing weight is the fact that it prevents sleep deprivation which can cause weight gain.
Learn more about melatonin weight loss

Melatonin and Tinnitus

Tinnitus is a condition where individuals may experience roaring, ringing or even humming in their ears. Believe it or not, there are about 15 million individuals in the United States that reported the symptoms of tinnitus as a major problem, especially when they are trying to sleep. Taking at least 3 mgs of melatonin for at least 4 weeks could cause these symptoms to improve, even after you have stop taking them. This is also one of the melatonin benefits.
Read more about melatonin tinnitus.

Melatonin to prevent Jet lag

Another major benefit of melatonin;
Melatonin can also be very helpful in preventing and helping with jet lags. When a person decides to move across time zones through air travel, they may experience jet lag which can cause insomnia, fatigue, constipation, diarrhea, anxiety, memory loss, dehydration, nausea, headaches, dizziness and other symptoms.
It has been proven that taking melatonin before bedtime at the time of your destination can reduce your chances of getting jet lag or experiencing severe if any symptoms at all.
You might need to keep using melatonin for the period of a few days in order to help your body adjust to the changed sleeping pattern.

Other Melatonin benefits

Some of the other benefits that are tied to the use of melatonin, already proven or still under research, are; preventing breast cancer, prevent all sorts of aging problems like Alzheimer’s, fertility problems and many more.