melatonin

Mice brains shrink during winter, impairing some learning and memory

...e and his colleagues believe it may be the hormone melatonin which controls the changes in brain size and funct... white-footed mice. Scientists know that levels of melatonin are associated with seasonal changes in daylight. Melatonin is also found in humans, and that's one...

Travelers can avoid jet lag by resetting their body clocks

...- a single light box and the over-the-counter drug melatonin -- allows travelers to avoid jet lag by resetting ...xternal social environment. Both bright light and melatonin have successfully been used in laboratory and field settings to "phase advance" (resetting the circa...

New Research Shows Artificial Light at Night Stimulates Breast Cancer Growth in Laboratory Mice

...eeping and waking cycles. The new study shows that melatonin also plays a key role in the development of cancer.... “These results are due to a direct effect of the melatonin on the cancer cells,?said Blask. “The melatonin is clearly suppressing tumor development and growth....

Melatonin improves mood in winter depression

...ken in the afternoon. The Lewy team used afternoon melatonin to test if it was more antidepressant than melatonin taken in the morning, which causes phase delays. The researchers randomly assigned 68 SAD patients...

Keeping the body in sync -- The stability of cellular clocks

...ure, blood pressure, heart rate, concentrations of melatonin and glucocorticoids, urine production, acid secretion in the gastrointestinal tract, and changes in liver metabolism. In the tiny volume of the cell, however, the chemical environment is constantly fluctuating. How is it possible for all these cel...

To sleep, perchance to dream: New insight into melatonin production

...r. Kyong-Tai Kim (Pohang University) describes how melatonin production is coordinated with the body's natural ... basic physiological processes proceed). Normally, melatonin production is inhibited by light and enhanced by darkness, usually peaking in the middle of the nigh...