Melatonin Supplements: Friend or Foe?
A research letter, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), reports that Americans are heavily relying on melatonin supplements to help them sleep.
What is Melatonin?
Our bodies naturally produce a hormone, melatonin. It is made by the pineal gland in our brains, but is also found in other areas including our eyes and gastrointestinal tract.
It is commonly referred to as the sleep hormone since it’s associated with helping people fall asleep faster. Yet, it’s important to understand that the hormone is not going to nudge you into a coma-like state. Melatonin’s role is to simply prompt your body that it’s time to unwind and fall asleep by governing your circadian rhythm.
