Essay/Term paper: Melatonin and the pineal gland

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Science Reports

Melatonin And The Pineal Gland


Set deep in our brains is a tiny gland called the pineal gland. This tiny
gland is in charge of the endocrine system, the glandular system that controls
most of our bodily functions. The pineal runs our Œbody clocks', and it
produces melatonin; the hormone that may prove to be the biggest medical
discovery since penicilin, and the key to controlling the aging process. The
pineal gland controls such functions as our sleeping cycle and the change of
body temperature that we undergo with the changing seasons. It tells animals
when to migrate north and south, and when to grow or shed heavy coats. By
slowing down and speeding up their metabolisms, it tells them when to fatten up
for hibernation, and when to wake up from hibernation in the spring.
Melatonin is the hormone that controls not only when we feel sleepy, but
the rate at which we age, when we go through puberty, and how well our immune
systems fend off diseases. Being set in the middle of our brains, the pineal
gland has no direct access to sunlight. Our eyes send it a message of how much
sunlight they see, and when it's dark. The sunlight prohibits the gland from
producing melatonin, so at night, when there's no sun, the sleep-inducing
hormone is released into our bodies. Because of the pineal gland and melatonin,
humans have known to sleep at night and wake during the day since long before
the age of alarm clocks.
Humans don't produce melatotin right from birth; it is transfered in utero
to babies through the placenta. For their first few days of life, babies still
have to receive it from breast milk. Our levels of melatonin peak during
childhood, then decrease at the beginning of puberty, so that other hormones can
take control of our bodies. As we get older, the amount of melatonin we produce
continues to decrease until at age 60, we produce about half as much as we did
at age 20. With the rapid decrease from about age 50 on, the effects of old age
quickly become more visible and physically evident. With what scientists have
recently discovered, we may very soon be able to harness melatonin to slow down
aging, fend off disease, and keep us feeling generally healthy and energetic;
not to mention the things melatonin can do for us right now like curing insomnia
and regulating sleeping patterns, eliminating the effects of jet-lag, and
relieving every day stress.

Melatonin is known as the "regulator of regulators", because it sends out
the messages that control the amounts of all the different hormones in our
bodies. It is a balance among our different hormones that keeps us healthy, and
as we age, our different hormone levels can become unbalanced, which results in
aging.
Everything our bodies do requires energy, from running a mile to sitting
still and just breathing. Every cell in our bodies requires at least some
energy to function. Within all of our cells are microscopic structures called
mitochondria. Mitochondria are considered the powerhouses of the cells, because
they convert energy into ATP; the substance which fuels most every cell in our
body. In order to create ATP, we need to take in and Œburn' oxygen. As we age,
our mitochondria age, and as our mitochondria age, their production of ATP slows,
which results in the buildup of excess oxygen. This buildup results in the
oxidization, (or rusting) of the cells and their different components. This is
why when we're older, we don't have as much energy as when we're young. Here's
where melatonin steps in. Melatonin metabolizes the thyroid hormone (which
supplies energy to the mitochondria, among other cell organelles) so that it
carries more energy. When the mitochondria receive more power from the thyroid
hormone, they can produce more ATP, giving more energy to every cell in our
bodies, and they use up all of the oxygen that we take in, so that our cells
don't begin to oxidize.
There are mitochondria in the cells of the pineal gland, which give it the
power to produce and secrete melatonin. Pineal function declines as its cells'
mitochondria provide it with less ATP, and instead start to produce calcium
salt, which calcifies the gland. Calcification is the hardening of the gland
(with calcium deposits) which hinders its performance. Once the pineal gland
begins to function less perfectly, the production of energy for the entire body
is thrown off. Therefore, with age comes less energy, which leads to less
melatonin, which leads to less energy and more leftover oxygen, which causes
aging. To stop this vicious cycle from beginning, one must only take enough of
a dose of melatonin to keep the levels of all the involved hormones where they
are when we are young.
That only touches on the surface of what regulated melatonin levels can
achieve. The calcification that adversely affects the pineal gland happens
elsewhere in the body as the mitochondria in the various types of cells slow
down. For example, calcium deposits in the blood vessels leads to hardening of
the arteries, which can eventually lead to a stroke or heart attack. These same
kinds of calcium deposits are also found in such organs as the heart and brain,
and can lead to other complications. The reason that children aren't afflicted
with these conditions is that levels of melatonin in the human body are at their
peak during our childhood.
To sum up, when the pineal can no longer do its job, it results in the
breakdown of mitochondria throughout the body, the powerhouses of the cells that
regulate energy. When the mitochondria break down, this causes a chain reaction
throughout the body that leads to the eventual collapse of all other organ
systems. This collapse is what defines aging to us, and melatonin is the tool
we can use to prevent it, or at least put it off a while longer.

It is also being said that melatonin is an effective weapon against
disease, and can strengthen our immune systems. Part of this is simply logical
reasoning when the effects of melatonin on aging are taken into consideration.
It is a decline in the functions of our vital organs that leads to many of the
diseases known to man. Therefore, when the aging of our individual organs is
hindered, as described in the first part of this paper, the diseases that often
accompany that aging will no longer be able to do so. Melatonin will also
effect various afflictions in the same way as it would effect atherosclerosis
(hardening of the arteries); with melatonin levels increased, the excess calcium
salt that can cause so many problems is no longer present to cause them.
The way in which melatonin effects our actual immune systems is slightly
more complex. One main cell of the immune system is the white blood cell. One
type of white blood cell is a lymphocyte, and one type of lymphocyte is known as
a T cell. T cells are responsible not only for protecting cells against viruses
and bacteria, but also for ferreting out possible trouble-making agents within
our bloodstream. These cells have to be very finely tuned so that they don't
attack any of the helpful cells or materials in our bodies. It would be
disasterous if our immune system started to kill the cells that make up the
tissue of our various organs, or if it attacked the nutrients we derive from the
food we eat. This sometimes happens; disorders like this are known as
autoimmune diseases.
The reason for autoimmune diseases, and for the greater frequency and
severity of illnesses in older people, is the aging of the immune system.
Certain T cells have memories, which is why many times after a person has had a
particular infection, they are often immune when later exposed to the bacteria
that caused the original infection. The main effect of aging on the immune
system is that our T cells can no longer remember what cells are harmful to us,
and can no longer distinguish our body's cells from harmful invading ones. We
have supressor cells, to stop attacks on our own bodies that our immune systems
may mistakenly launch. However, when we age, our supressor cells can fail to
work well or at all.
As it has been demonstrated, it is age itself that leads to most of the
afflictions about which I've written, and it has been described how melatonin
can slow the aging process and its effects. In this same way, it can keep our T
cells and the other various parts of our immune system working at a peak
physical (youthful) level. With our immune systems working as efficiently at
the age of 50 as they did when we were 10, the illnesses associated with old age
will seldom be of concern to us, thanks to melatonin.
Besides helping us to live longer and to fend off diseases better,
melatonin supplements can help with more commonplace things like stress, jet-lag,
and everyday fatigue. Stress isn't just an abstract idea caused by bad feelings,
it's indirectly created by chemical reactions within our bodies, as a result of
perfectly normal situations. Humans have basic survival instincts that we've
had since the beginning of mankind. When faced with a threatening situation, we
have a Œfight or flight' urge; the urge to react either offensively or
defensively to the threat. What happens is that our nervous system stimulates
our adrenal glands, which produce adrenaline, which causes our metabolism to
speed up, our muscles to tense, our heart to beat faster, which often causes us
to become hot or start to sweat, and often to produce excess stomach acid. In
this day and age, however, we can't always release this tension the way that our
body may intend us to. For example, in a threatening confrontation with a
teacher, I could niether punch my teacher or run away from him. Therefore, the
hormones floating around in my body making me all excited and wanting to react
don't achieve their objective and remain in my body. This is how stress occurs,
on both a chemical and emotional level; our impulses are not able to be acted on,
and unresolved they do us harm. Melatonin neutralizes adrenaline and other Œ
Œexcitement hormones, thereby calming us down. That means no tense knots of
muscle from an unrelieved situation, and no excess stomach acid creating an
ulcer in my stomach.
with regard to jet-lag and energy loss, the answer is closely related to
getting more and better sleep. Jet-lag occurs when our body clocks are slow to
readjust in a new time zone; the clock on the wall tells us that it's a
different time than our bodies think it is. I've already explained how
melatonin causes us to sleep, so when you're on the plane to wherever you're
going, or maybe the day before you leave, you take enough melatonin so that your
body thinks it's time to go to sleep according to what time it is wherever
you're traveling to. That way, when you get there, you're already on the same
schedule as the people there.
Once again, not having enough energy to make it through a normal day is
often the result of not having had a good enough sleep the night before.
Melatonin helps us to sleep more soundly, therefore eliminating this problem, so
long as we leave time so that we can get as much sleep as we need.
Melatonin is a hormone secreted by a tiny gland deep in the middle of our
heads, but having supplemental doses can accomplish great things for us. We can
look forward to such great things as extending the length of our lifetimes. We
can live those extra years feeling healthy and young, and with much less threat
of illness. We can accomplish such useful and even-more-immediate goals like
curing jet-lag, improving the quality of the sleep we get, and cutting down on
the stress in our lives by both chemical and emotional means. While the study
of melatonin and its many miraculous uses has gone on for many years, it must
still go on for many more, to determine with more exactness the effects of the
hormone on a long-term basis. However, if it only provides a healthy good
night's sleep, it's a great discovery; but if it will really do all that we
think it can, it will be one the greatest medical discoveries of our time.

Bibliography

1. Your Body's Natural Wonder Drug: Melatonin, by Russel J. Reiter,Ph.D. and Jo
Robinson
Copywrite 1995 Bantam Books, Ny, NY

2. The Melatonin Miracle,

3. Melatonin, by Geoffrey Cowley; Newsweek, Aug. 7, 1995

4. The World Book Encyclopedia, World Book, Inc., 1981, Chicago, Il