Melatonin
Question: Does melatonin help to correct sleep-related
problems?
Answer: A new study says that melatonin may be a safe and effective treatment
for persons who have trouble blind persons reset their body clock so it
synchronizes with the daily circadian rhythm most people experience.
Despite hype and extravagant claims in
recent years concerning melatonin's alleged miraculous powers, researchers say
these new findings establish the first proof melatonin can work as a sleep aid
since they have now figured out how melatonin naturally functions in the human
body.
"We definitively show that melatonin
can reset the body clock," says co-author Alfred Lewy, MD, PhD, professor
of psychiatry at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, Oregon.
Researchers studied seven totally blind
people whose body clock was not synchronized to the normal daily cycle. They
were given 10 milligrams of melatonin or placebo daily 1 hour before their
preferred bedtime for 3-9 weeks. At the end of the study, six of the seven
study subjects' clock had been corrected to a 24-hour cycle.
"Because blind people don't perceive
light, they . . . [constitute] a more pure experimental condition [in which] to
study just the effects of melatonin and the body clock," says Lewy.
"The recurrent sleep disorder that happens when their clocks are out of
phase can be corrected by a daily dose of melatonin."
Researchers point out that the findings also
mean sighted people can benefit from this. Lewy says people with any of the
following problems may be aided by melatonin therapy:
·
- Jet lag
- Morning-lark and night-owl syndromes
- Difficulty adjusting to shift work or daylight savings time
- Monday blues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) or seasonal depression
Lewy cautions that the key
to effective treatment is to give melatonin correctly. "Melatonin needs to
be used at the right dose, at the right time, for the right reason," says
Lewy.
Researchers say another important finding of
the study is that after the body clocks of the study subjects were adjusted,
and they were given melatonin at the lowest dose, 0.5 milligrams, for 3 months,
Melatonin effect still persisted.
In an editorial that accompanies the
study--both published in the October 12 issue of the New England Journal of
Medicine--Josephine Arendt, PhD, at the University of Surrey in the United
Kingdom, says that the most noteworthy finding of the study is the persistence
of the effect when the dose of melatonin is reduced to 0.5 milligrams a day.
"Sleep-wake disorders involving a circadian
cycle longer than 24 hours are a lifetime problem for blind persons," says
Arendt. "It is of the utmost importance that the lowest possible dose of
melatonin be used and that long-tem safety be evaluated."
But, Arendt continues, "As the true
potential of melatonin is becoming evident, the importance of the timing of
treatment is becoming clear."
There are now about 1
million blind people in the United States and roughly 20% of them are totally
blind. At least half of this 20% have unsynchronized circadian rhythms,
according to researchers. Melatonin may prove to be a safe and effective
treatment for many of these people.
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