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For many years I’ve been telling you about melatonin. You probably know it as the sleep hormone. It helps your body cycle down every night so you can rest. But you may not know this. Melatonin is also a powerful anti-aging hormone that works directly on your skin. Today I’m going to show you how melatonin helps you look younger. How it rejuvenates your skin at the cellular level. And I’ll show you how to use melatonin to prevent and repair sun damage to your skin. It’s all possible thanks to a huge discovery. It explains exactly how your body makes melatonin. You see, for decades we knew that melatonin was secreted in the pineal gland in the brain. We thought that was the body’s only source of melatonin. But recently German scientists found melatonin receptors in the skin.1 And they discovered the skin also produces melatonin. It’s a separate supply from the brain. And there’s a good reason for that. It turns out melatonin stimulates the growth of fibroblasts. Those are cells that produce collagen and elastin. Your skin’s whole structural support depends on collagen and elastin.2 They make your skin smooth and wrinkle-free. But fibroblasts are very sensitive to ultraviolet radiation. The same kind of light you get from the sun. When fibroblasts were exposed to UV rays in a lab, only 56% of them survived. But when researchers pretreated the cells with melatonin, 92.5% survived.3 I’ve seen this in my own patients who have lost collagen and elastin from too much sun damage. I’ve found that melatonin can help restore their firm, smooth skin. You see, melatonin also protects skin by acting as a powerful antioxidant. Studies show it’s a stronger free radical scavenger than even vitamins C and E.4 Its antioxidant powers protect skin from the aging effects of sun damage. Swiss researchers applied a melatonin gel to the lower backs of 20 volunteers. They waited 15 minutes. Then they exposed the volunteers to UV radiation. The melatonin almost completely blocked any sunburn.5 Melatonin is like your skin’s own in-house dermatologist. It gets called up whenever your skin faces damage like UV rays. At times like that your skin can’t depend on the melatonin produced in your brain. It’s just not reliable. Here’s why. As you get older, your pineal gland produces less melatonin. Your levels also drop when you’re stressed. Beta blockers, aspirin, or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs also lower your levels. Whatever melatonin you have left goes first to making sure you get a good night’s sleep. Only very small amounts ever actually reach your skin. That’s why oral melatonin supplements won’t give you the best anti-aging skin benefits. When you take melatonin by mouth, it breaks down in the liver. Most of it never gets to the bloodstream. That means it doesn’t have any way to get to the skin where it’s needed to protect against sun damage. For skin protection and renewal, your best option is topical melatonin. It can penetrate the tough outer layer of your skin (the stratum corneum). Once there it initiates your skin’s repair process. Very few companies know of this new research. So you won’t find topical melatonin on the shelf at your local drugstore. But a few manufacturers are starting to offer Rub a little into your face and neck at night. Melatonin will help build your collagen and elastin. It will also work as a healing antioxidant and help prevent sun damage and wrinkles.Make sure you find one with no toxic chemicals added. And melatonin should be one of the top five ingredients to make sure you’re getting enough to do the job. But remember that melatonin may also make you sleepy. So use it as a night cream only. To Your Good Health, 1. Fischer TW, Slominski A, Zmijewski MA, Reiter RJ, Paus R. “Melatonin as a major skin protectant: from free radical scavenging to DNA damage repair.” Exp Dermatol. 2008 Sep;17(9):713-30.
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