Melatonin And The Pineal Gland
Set deep in our brains is a tiny gland called the pineal gland. This tiny
gland is in charge of the endocrine system, the glandular system that controls
most of our bodily functions. The pineal runs our body clocks', and it
produces melatonin; the hormone that may prove to be the biggest medical
discovery since penicilin, and the key to controlling the aging process. The
pineal gland controls such functions as our sleeping cycle and the change of
body temperature that we undergo with the changing seasons. It tells animals
when to migrate north and south, and when to grow or shed heavy coats. By
slowing down and speeding up their metabolisms, it tells them when to fatten up
for ...
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sun, the sleep-inducing
hormone is released into our bodies. Because of the pineal gland and melatonin,
humans have known to sleep at night and wake during the day since long before
the age of alarm clocks.
Humans don't produce melatotin right from birth; it is transfered in utero
to babies through the placenta. For their first few days of life, babies still
have to receive it from breast milk. Our levels of melatonin peak during
childhood, then decrease at the beginning of puberty, so that other hormones can
take control of our bodies. As we get older, the amount of melatonin we produce
continues to decrease until at age 60, we produce about half as much as we did
at age 20. With the rapid decrease from about age 50 on, the effects of old age
quickly become more visible and physically evident. With what scientists have
recently discovered, we may very soon be able to harness melatonin to slow down
aging, fend off disease, and keep us feeling generally healthy and ...
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melatonin steps in. Melatonin metabolizes the thyroid hormone (which
supplies energy to the mitochondria, among other cell organelles) so that it
carries more energy. When the mitochondria receive more power from the thyroid
hormone, they can produce more ATP, giving more energy to every cell in our
bodies, and they use up all of the oxygen that we take in, so that our cells
don't begin to oxidize.
There are mitochondria in the cells of the pineal gland, which give it the
power to produce and secrete melatonin. Pineal function declines as its cells'
mitochondria provide it with less ATP, and instead start to produce calcium
salt, which calcifies the gland. Calcification is ...
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Melatonin And The Pineal Gland. (2007, June 1). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Melatonin-And-The-Pineal-Gland/65763
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"Melatonin And The Pineal Gland." Essayworld.com. June 1, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Melatonin-And-The-Pineal-Gland/65763.
"Melatonin And The Pineal Gland." Essayworld.com. June 1, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Melatonin-And-The-Pineal-Gland/65763.
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