Insomnia and/or difficulty sleeping is a concurrent fact today and growing over the years. This means that food supplements intended to help sleep and rest are taking more and more prominence and generating interest.
We want to dedicate this website place to a substance present in many of these supplements, in combination with others considered relaxing/soothing… such as plants, amino acids… etc. This is melatonin, an hormone naturally present in our body and generated from the essential amino acid L-tryptophan.
The reason why we find it interesting to give prominence to this substance is due to the general knowledge about it, the scope if its action mechanism is often quite confused: on many occasions it is believed that the effects of melatonin are limited solely to a sleep aid, when in fact they go further.
First, we must know what the circadian rhythm is, since it is about all those changes (physical, mental, behavioural…) that occur naturally during the 24-hour daily cycle. These changes are responses to darkness (night hours) and light (day hours).
Melatonin is the hormone in charge of regulating this cycle. The body produces it naturally when there is darkness and decreases it when there is light. This is how the signal is given to the body when it should fall asleep or stay awake. Therefore, it is very important to keep melatonin levels balanced to regulate the sleep cycle.
Low levels of melatonin have been detected in people with insomnia and/or sleeping problems, requiring supplementation with this substance. In this way, the time to fall asleep is reduced, increasing its quality, and making the person more active and rested during the day.
Melatonin should be taken between half and an hour before going to bed so that the body regulates it properly, in this way we will help the nocturnal levels to increase during the day. Therefore, melatonin not only helps us sleep, but also allows us to be more energetic and active during daylight hours and, indirectly, in a better mood.
Regulatory concepts in the EU…
Melatonin is legislated in a common way and independently in each Member State of the European Union. Therefore, before marketing any melatonin-based product in a Member State, specific knowledge of the regulations of the country in question must be acquired.
From Cía de Productos Naturales Lleó, we Will be happy to help you through our consulting department.
