The body has its own internal clock and system which helps it in regulating sleeping, hunger and waking patterns. While many people pay a lot of attention to food and exercise as a means of staying fit, there are many others who do not know that sleep is also one of the most important things when it comes to achieving a fit mind and a fit body. That is right – it is of utmost importance to get the right number of hours for some snooze time so that the brain and the body may recuperate and be replenished with the required energy to face a new day, every single day.

The Importance of Sleep: Without sleep, the body begins to slow down in various ways. To begin with, the energy levels will be at an all-time low and this may also affect the basic cognition of the human being in question. When you do not get the right amount of sleep for many nights in a row, you will also begin to notice that the way your body handles and breaks down food will change. The metabolism slows down visibly and it becomes a task to keep those grams from piling on because the food does not get broken down the way it should. Further, the quality of the skin and the hair will also suffer as you will begin to show greater signs of aging and dark circles, way before you actually reach that age. This is because many elements like collagen are produced during the resting hours. This helps in keeping the elasticity of the skin.

Sleeping Disorders: As you can see just how important sleep is for the body. But what keeps us awake? Sleeping disorders like insomnia and other lesser known conditions usually keep people awake because the production of the correct hormones and chemicals may not happen in the proper manner. This can be a hormonal issue or a lifestyle issue. Excessive consumption of alcohol, repeatedly staying awake late into the night, stress and various other such lifestyle issues can also contribute to the problem of sleeplessness. This goes forth to create an imbalance of the hormones, which makes for a change in the way the body works. Once this happens, the body is not able to recognize the resting time as it has not been exposed to a proper routine for the same. Needless to say, many other related problems follow suit.

The Role of Melatonin: Melatonin is a hormone that can be found in the human body. The production of this hormone is important because it helps in adjusting the body clock of the person. With the help of melatonin, one can come to recognize sleeping times and waking times, and accordingly, the brain follows suit and sends the required signals and energy for the rest of the body to function. This also has a bearing on the way the rest of the organs in the body may function and may lead to a slowdown of the same.

Melatonin as a Sleep Aid: There are a number of sleeping aids that are used for people who suffer from sleep-related issues. These include therapy, medication and other forms of treatment. Melatonin has been frequently used by people who go through excessive jet lag and is also used as a sleep aid for blind people so that they can establish patterns of day and night. Therefore, melatonin is a perfect sleep aid which can help in regulating the internal clock of the body and to ensure that the body gets over the insomnia symptoms in a proper manner.

As a sleep aid, melatonin can also help patients who suffer from many kinds of sleep disorders. To begin with, it is the ideal aid for those suffering from insomnia because it helps patients who cannot get to sleep or those who cannot get the required number of sleeping hours in a day. Further, it can also help patients who suffer from RBD or rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder, which makes the brain wake up faster and thus leads to constant awakening throughout the night. Melatonin as a sleep aid can also be used by patients who are suffering from Attention Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder (ADHD), which can create side effects like prolonged insomnia. Also, those who have developed insomnia due to the intake of blood pressure medications which contain a high dose of beta blockers will find that a melatonin sleep aid is the ideal treatment partner when it comes to getting more quantity and quality of sleep.

Thus, it can be seen that melatonin is a great sleep aid which can also be used for a number of other health problems from breast cancer to skin problems. There are a number of problems for which melatonin can be used when it comes to effective treatment.