30/09/2021
Our body has an internal biological clock. Among other things, this clock ensures that we alternate between being awake and asleep within a 24-hour period. Daylight is very decisive in this respect. A normal biorhythm therefore runs more or less in parallel with the rising and setting of the sun. Whether it is day or night is registered by our brains and transported through the bloodstream via the hormone melatonin.
However, not everyone has the same biorhythm. Moreover, that biorhythm can get seriously mixed up when you have a jet lag or when you work at night, for example. Find out all about this hormone, which is also known as the 'vampire hormone' or the 'hormone of darkness', in the remainder of this text.
Melatonin: the hormone needed to sleep
Our biorhythm ingeniously regulates when we are awake and when it is time to go to sleep. In doing so, it tunes into daylight. When it gets dark, our brain produces melatonin in the pineal gland. This hormone signals your body that it is time to sleep. The production starts in the evening, increases at night and decreases again in the early morning. Because melatonin is no longer produced at this time, the body receives a signal that it may wake up.
In this way, melatonin creates the ideal conditions for the body to fall asleep, which makes you sleep better. It thus delineates the time span between which to sleep.
What happens in the event of a disturbed biorhythm or jet lag?
When we fly to another time zone, for example, our biological clock needs some time to adjust. After all, melatonin is still produced at times when the body was used to doing so. This explains the phenomenon of jet lag, which many travelers may have experienced.
When you are in a different time zone, you feel tired during the first few days, but you are wide awake again in the evening.
For example, if you work at night and consequently have to sleep during the day, you may have trouble adjusting your biological clock.
It is also true that the peaks and troughs of a biological clock can differ from person to person. This explains the difference between morning and evening people. Morning people experience their most alert hours in the morning. Evening people do not feel fatigue until much later in the evening and it takes them until some time in the morning before they are truly awake.
The rhythm of society, however, does not keep up with those evening people. A real night owl who has to start his job early can quickly suffer from a lack of sleep.
Blue light from our smartphone, television or computer screen can also interfere with melatonin production. Our body confuses blue light with daylight, which prevents the production of melatonin and makes it harder to fall asleep.
It is therefore advisable to limit your screen time to a minimum, at least one hour before you go to sleep.
What if the natural production of melatonin is disturbed?
In people who work in shifts or who have jet lag, the biological clock and thus the body's own production of melatonin is disrupted.
In these cases it can help to take melatonin in drops or tablet form. Melatonin then enters the bloodstream artificially, prompting your body to go to sleep.
In Belgium a melatonin supplement falls under the heading of medicine and is not always readily available. Moreover, it is important that the correct dosage is determined by a doctor. So be sure to consult a doctor if you suffer from jet lag or work in shifts and therefore experience sleep problems.
When using melatonin, sometimes side effects can occur, such as headaches, daytime sleepiness, irritability, ... Therefore, it is important to be well informed about the right dose.
Enhance the effect of melatonin
Melatonin essentially signals the body that it may quietly go into sleep mode. The moment at which you take melatonin is therefore not unimportant. Many tablets contain melatonin, but a large part of it is broken down by the body after intake so that it has little or no effect.
With Lunestil we deliberately chose to put the melatonin in the inner capsule so that it is only released later, after you have fallen asleep.
Discover Lunestil, an innovative dual capsule with delayed release that uniquely combines four powerful, natural ingredients to help you sleep through the night.
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