Melatonin, a hormone segregated by human body, regulates sleep better than somniferous

This press release is available in French and Spanish.

Melatonin, a natural hormone segregated by the own human body, is an excellent sleep regulator expected to replace somniferous, which are much more aggressive, to correct the sleep/wakefulness pace when human biological clock becomes altered. Those are the conclusions of a research work carried out by Darío Acuña-Castroviejo and Germaine Escames, professors of the Institute of Biotechnology (Biomedical Research Centre of the University of Granada), who have been carrying out a complete analysis of the properties of this natural hormone segregated by the pineal gland for years.

Melatonin (frequently called the 'hormone of darkness', because the organism produces it at night) is currently being used by the pharmaceutical industry to design derivative synthetic medicines, a very interesting therapeutic tool for the treatment of sleep alterations. Not in vain, the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) authorized in 2007 the use of melatonin for this type of therapies, after years of debate about the convenience of this measure.

Taking it at specific hours

The researchers of the University of Granada have stated that melatonin "is a very effective chronobiotic in the treatment of chronobiological alterations of the cycle sleep/wakefulness", although its administration "must take place at certain hours of the day, inducing a phase advance or delay as convenient". Therefore, the scientists point out that the "lack of effect of melatonin is related, most of the times, to an inadequate administration".