Relationship Between Sun And Melatonin-1

Melatonin And Light

Sun and melatonin
Exist another type of rays with high therapeutic power in the solar spectrum: the visible light. It is clear the effect of these rays because thanks to them we can see the outside world. The visible sunlight powerfully influences our mood: we do not feel well on a sunny day that one cloudy day.

Pineal activation
For more  that we turn on light bulbs in our house, if sunlight lack our mood can drop more or less according to the person. In short, the power of natural light can not be compared with that of artificial light. Regarding this point, we must speak of an endocrine gland called the pineal gland or epiphysis, as it is highly related to sunlight .


Pineal gland and melatonin
Until recently, the functions of this gland were virtually unknown. Has now been discovered that it is a key element in the regulation of the endocrine hormonal balance, the integrity of immune system and the balance of the biological clock. The most important hormone secreted by this gland is called melatonin.


It is interesting the epiphysis' mechanism regarding the  hormone secretion, because this takes place only at night in the absence of sunlight . The time of peak secretion occurs around 2 am in young people, and around 3 am in the older people.


Also the amount of melatonin secreted by a young person is double that in the case of an older person. During the day, the amount of blood melatonin is smalland secretion is null.


By the time that the sun sets, a neural signal is shooting that stimulates the pineal gland to secrete melatonin and other hormones. This secretion gradually increases until the peak hour ( between 2 and 3 am ), which begins to descend the activity of the gland.

Upon sun output, the activity ceases. And while the artificial light seems to influence in the functioning of the epiphysis, the healthiest and therapeutic light is the solar light.


It is easy to see then, that in sleep disorders produce imbalances in the functioning of the pineal gland. For example, the so-called jet- lag comprises various symptoms such as fatigue, insomnia, headache, irritability, poor concentration, weak immune response, etc.

This phenomenon is produced by the change which receives the biological clock when traveling to a place with a different time zone than the original source.

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