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Secret anti-aging agent

If you’re anything like me, you know melatonin as something that can help you sleep better.

And, like I was, you may be surprised to learn that melatonin could be one of the best little-known secrets of anti-aging.

But it’s not about beauty sleep.

So what exactly is melatonin?

Melatonin is a hormone that is secreted by a pea-sized gland in your brain called the pineal gland.

Melatonin is responsible for regulating sleep. It’s known as the sleep hormone because it keeps your body telling time. And it’s often referred to as the hormone of darkness1 because it starts to be released as night falls. But, like most hormones, melatonin declines with age.

What you may not know is that melatonin is one of the most powerful antioxidants2,3,4 It also supports other antioxidants5 so they can do their job.

The research is so amazing that I promise it won’t put you to sleep.

Melatonin can:

  • Reverse age-related changes in the brain.6 Melatonin is an antioxidant and can pass through the blood-brain barrier and fight off the free radicals there. Free-radical damage causes oxidation in the brain, and we have a lot of evidence that melatonin is a very effective neuroprotectant. On the other side of that, studies show that people with Alzheimer’s have very low melatonin levels.7
  • Suppress tumor growth in breast cancer by inhibiting estrogen receptors. 8,9,10 Breast cancer, and other cancers of organs with hormone receptors (prostate, ovarian and endometrial for example) can grow in an environment of excess estrogen, and melatonin blocks that process.11
  • Restore thyroid function in perimenopausal and menopausal women. You see, all the hormones are tied into your biological clock and melatonin is the mechanism that keeps your body telling time. A major complaint of perimenopausal women with thyroid problems is that they aren’t sleeping properly. Some women have even reported having their periods returning to normal after two months of taking melatonin, 30 minutes before going to bed.
  • Stimulate the release of human-growth hormone12. As you age, HGH declines causing you to lose muscle tone. It’s a major reason why so many perimenopausal and menopausal women have unexplained weight gain.
  • Help bone repair, assisting the “development of the hard tissues,”13,14 making bones harder and denser for age-related bone loss.15 Studies have also shown that melatonin can speed up the healing process after a fracture.
  • Aid in wound healing, protect your telomeres16 and stimulate cell growth when applied topically. Its antioxidant properties are a guard against oxidative stress and free-radical damage. It can even repair sun-damaged skin.17

Now that’s a lot for one little hormone!

A normal dose of melatonin is from .5mg to 3 mg, 30 minutes before bedtime. But you can also apply melatonin topically.

Whether you choose to take a capsule (3mgs), use a cream, or both, you’ll find it one of the fastest-working and most important weapons in your arsenal against premature aging.

For a more beautiful you,

Sandy DeRose
Natural Beauty Advocate

P.S. I love hearing from you so please send me an email with any questions or topics you’d like to read about.

Anti-Aging Writer

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2. Ward Dean, MD., Melatonin: Unique, Potent Nutrient Anti-Aging Supplement Review and Update Part 3
3. Poeggeler B, Melatonin, aging, and age-related diseases: perspectives for prevention, intervention, and therapy. Endocrine. 2005 Jul;27(2):201-12.
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10. Arthur Nead, Tulane study: Total darkness during the night is a key to success of breast cancer therapy. Tulane University. July 25, 2014.
11.Sarah C. Markt, et al. “Urinary melatonin levels, sleep disruption and risk of prostate cancer” Presented at AACR-Prostate Cancer Foundation Conference on Advances in Prostate Cancer Research, 19 Jan. 2014.
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14. Calvo-Guirado JL, Gómez-Moreno G, Maté-Sánchez JE, López-Marí L, Delgado-Ruiz R, Romanos GE, New bone formation in bone defects after melatonin and porcine bone grafts: experimental study in rabbits. Clin Oral Implants Res. 2014 Mar 6. doi: 10.1111/clr.12364. [Epub ahead of print] 15. Isabel F Tresguerres, Faleh Tamimi, Hazem Eimar, Jake Barralet, Santiago Prieto, Jesus Torres, Jose Luis Calvo-Guirado, Jesús Angel Fernández-Tresguerres. Melatonin dietary supplement as an anti-aging therapy for age-related bone loss. Rejuvenation Research, 2014; 140311120122003 DOI:10.1089/rej.2013.1542.
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