There is a lot of talk about the need for quality sleep. At the same time, they mainly note how lack of sleep affects the current life: a person becomes lethargic, loses his ability to work, and even ages prematurely.
“However, today scientists have gone further and are increasingly talking about the link between lack of sleep and a deficiency of melatonin, the sleep hormone, with the development of cancer,” Dr. Karasev writes on his channel. from Telegram.
What should you know about melatonin?
“In general, melatonin acts as a night worker, a pacemaker, is responsible for circadian rhythms and is produced during sleep. A prerequisite for its proper production is complete fainting during sleep,” explains Ivan Karasev.
Even the slightest light in the room, for example, a flickering TV bulb, lit indicators of household appliances, reduce the production of melatonin.
“Under adverse conditions, its production can be reduced up to 10 times compared to sleeping in complete darkness,” warns the doctor.
How is melatonin related to cancer?
Melatonin has an anti-inflammatory effect, stimulates the immune system and is closely related to premature aging. The more melatonin that is produced, the more slowly the person ages.
“A lot of research has been done on the connection between the hormone and cancer. For example, they looked at data from workers who worked night shifts or had work shifts that also had night shifts. It turned out that they are at risk of developing breast cancer. mother”. , ovarian and colon cancer about 30% higher than in those women who sleep normally at night. From this it was concluded that melatonin may have an oncosuppressive function, that is, suppress those altered cells that could already develop in the body,” Karasev noted. .
The oncologist said that in oncology clinics, melatonin is also used in the treatment of malignant neoplasms as an adjunct to the main treatment.
“Such therapy shows more effective results than without it. Therefore, the importance of this hormone should not be underestimated. And, of course, it is better to improve your sleep and produce your own melatonin than to take it in pills,” concluded Ivan Karasev.
