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Sleep
Published in Carolyn Torkelson, Catherine Marienau, Beyond Menopause, 2023
Carolyn Torkelson, Catherine Marienau
Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland to help set the timing of sleep onset. The circadian rhythm is associated with melatonin release, which is highly synchronized with our habitual hours of sleep and regulates the timing of sleep. Melatonin sends a message to the sleep-generator regions of the brain that it is dark and time to get ready for sleep. Because melatonin levels fall significantly during and after menopause, a trial of melatonin therapy is a very reasonable and safe option to see if sleep improves. As with other supplements, melatonin works best when combined with sleep hygiene strategies and a regular sleep time routine. The usual starting dose is 0.3 mg, which can be increased incrementally up to 5 mg if needed.
Medications
Published in Henry J. Woodford, Essential Geriatrics, 2022
Melatonin is an endogenous hormone produced at night by the pineal gland and plays a role in maintaining normal circadian rhythm. Its production may be reduced in older people. There has been hope that this could be a safer, yet effective, alternative. Unfortunately, some data suggest that the risk of falls and fractures may be as high with melatonin as that seen with benzodiazepines or Z-drugs.41 In addition, melatonin only has a small effect on sleep. A meta-analysis found that, on average, users fell asleep just seven minutes quicker and slept for just eight minutes longer than people given a placebo.42
Introduction: Background Material
Published in Nassir H. Sabah, Neuromuscular Fundamentals, 2020
The next major subdivision encountered is the diencephalon, consisting mainly of the thalamus, the hypothalamus just below the thalamus, including the posterior part of the pituitary gland, and the pineal gland. The thalamus constitutes about 80% of the diencephalon by volume and processes all sensory signals on their way to the cerebral cortex, with the exception of olfactory signals. It is involved in regulating sleep and wakefulness, arousal, and awareness. Its functions are discussed in Chapter 12. The hypothalamus is a regulatory center for several metabolic, autonomic, and behavioral responses, including body temperature, fluid and electrolytic balance, hunger, thirst, fatigue, sleep, circadian rhythms, sexual activity, and emotional responses such as anger, fear, and pleasure. It controls endocrine function through the pituitary gland. The pineal gland produces melatonin, which regulates the circadian rhythm, that is, the night and day cycle.
Circadian control of Nocturnin and its regulatory role in health and disease
Published in Chronobiology International, 2023
Shruti Kulshrestha, Ranjitsinh Devkar
Circadian rhythms are inbuilt timekeeping systems that regulate multiple facets of cellular homeostatic events by orchestrating the synergy of transcriptional outputs culminating in distinct diurnal/nocturnal manifestations (Reinke and Asher 2019). Cells and tissues of complex vertebrates are governed by circadian clock outputs with the central control located in the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN) of brain (Harder and Oster 2020). Pineal gland produces neurohormone Melatonin that plays a major role in the maintenance of circadian rhythms (Liu et al. 1997). However, cells and tissues have been extensively reported to exhibit circadian rhythms that are independent of the central hormonal control (Bray and Young 2009). This is because cells comprise of genes that form the core clock (Bmal, Clock, Per1, Per2, Cry1, Cry2, Rev-erbα, RORα) and are the epicentre of circadian regulation of the said tissues (Isojima et al. 2003; Wood et al. 2020). The core clock genes are responsive to the extrinsic factors and are partially governed by central photo-endocrine axis (Wood et al. 2020). This molecular circuitry forms a transcriptional–translational feedback loop in mammalian tissue that can alter/regulate key metabolic functions in various tissues (Huang 2018; Reinke and Asher 2016).
EEG coherence and power spectra during REM sleep related to melatonin intake in mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease: a pilot study
Published in International Journal of Neuroscience, 2023
Manuel Alejandro Cruz-Aguilar, Ignacio Ramírez-Salado, Marisela Hernández-González, Miguel Angel Guevara, Ana Paula Rivera-García
One well-known treatment for sleep disturbances is melatonin (nacetyl-5-methoxytryptamine), a substance that plays a major role in regulating circadian rhythms. Melatonin is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland that modulates the sleep-wake cycle. Its secretion is enhanced during darkness but suppressed under daylight [31]. Today, the physiological mechanism through which melatonin promotes sleep installation is still only poorly understood, though pharmacological studies suggest that it promotes prompt sleep installation through interaction with GABA receptors [32–36]. There is evidence that 5 mg of fast-release melatonin significantly reduces REM sleep latency in mild-to-moderate AD patients with insomnia, and that this reduction of REM sleep onset approaches the values reported for non-dementia geriatric patients [37]. However, melatonin’s effects on electroencephalographic activity (EEG) related to REM sleep onset in AD patients has not been analyzed.
Seasonal impact on the outcome of multidisciplinary pain therapy
Published in Chronobiology International, 2023
Jens Heyn, Isabel Kiesewetter, Birgit Uenze, Ricarda Christoph, Nannette Baumann, Lorenz Mihatsch, Benjamin Luchting
A lot of efforts have been made to evaluate chronobiological factors (including circadian rhythms, photoperiodic mechanisms, and melatonin) on seasonality and seasonal affective diseases like depression. It could be demonstrated that seasonal photoperiod acts on the pineal gland. As a result, the pineal gland secretes different levels of melatonin (reduced levels in autumn), resulting in seasonal changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis-hippocampal-receptor. These changes might be the pathophysiological basis for the onset/aggravation of several diseases including depression (Carpenter et al. 2017; Winthorst et al. 2017). Since a relationship between low levels of melatonin during autumn and depression has been suggested (Carpenter et al. 2017), one can speculate that the setting of MPSPs might have a positive impact on chronobiological factors including melatonin as well.