Is Melatonin a Good Antioxidant?

What do you know about Melatonin? Is Melatonin a good antioxidant? According to Dr. Russell Reiter, PhD, a world-renowned expert on melatonin, melatonin is one of the most important antioxidants in the body. He discussed some of its biological activities and health benefits of Melatonin. He has written more than 1,600 scientific publications, including three honorary doctorates. At Own Your Family we advise having daily sun exposure in a smart way. So avoid red skin or skin burning, the best time to enjoy the sun is in the morning and in the evening. Stay away from full noon sun exposure….

Renaat Sioncke

Renaat Sioncke is a full-time teacher and part-time online business owner. He's a family man with a wife and two sons. Renaat shares effective strategies for healthy living, which he specializes in. He's worked hard to build his business around his family life, and it's been a learning process. Renaat is committed to this lifestyle because it allows him to help others while also building his business and spending time with his loved ones.
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    What do you know about Melatonin? Is Melatonin a good antioxidant? According to Dr. Russell Reiter, PhD, a world-renowned expert on melatonin, melatonin is one of the most important antioxidants in the body.

    He discussed some of its biological activities and health benefits of Melatonin. He has written more than 1,600 scientific publications, including three honorary doctorates.

    At Own Your Family we advise having daily sun exposure in a smart way. So avoid red skin or skin burning, the best time to enjoy the sun is in the morning and in the evening. Stay away from full noon sun exposure. Don’t use toxic loaded sun creams, they can harm you. Check your skin cream with the EWG’s Skin Deep database. Or use a near infrared light to increase your Melatonin.

    Increase your Glutathione synthesis with sun exposure. Read all about is Melatonin a good antioxidant in this article. The sun has many beneficial radiations frequencies that is inducing melatonin production. The article will go deeper into is Melatonin a good antioxidant.

    Melatonin 101

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    Dr Mercola interviews Dr. Russell Reiter – Is Melatonin a Good Antioxidant?

    Melatonin is a hormone produced naturally by humans and animals. It helps regulate sleep patterns and circadian rhythms. It is also an antioxidant.

    Melatonin has been around for hundreds of millions of years. Its function has evolved over those billions of years. It’s worked with other molecules throughout those millennia. And one of them is Glutathione. But the antioxidant activity of Melatonin is extremely varied.

    Melatonin is an antioxidant produced naturally within our bodies. In addition to being a powerful antioxidant, melatonin also helps regulate sleep cycles, promotes healthy skin and hair, and may help prevent cancer.

    It’s very important to have antioxidants in the mitochondria. SIRT3 helps activate superoxide dismutase (Sod).

    Is Melatonin a Good Antioxidant? Yes, it is.

    Aging, frailty of aging (senescence), and cellular senescence seem to be related to mitochondrial dysfunction, and melatonin may help protect against mitochondrial dysfunction.

    Glutathione is synthesized by the body from amino acids cysteine and glutamate. Melatonin enhances the activity of the enzyme that catalyzes the first step in glutathione biosynthesis, which converts L-glutamate into L-gamma-glutamylcysteinylglycine (GSH).

    Melatonin is most commonly found in high concentrations in the cells, but some is also found outside of the cell in the extracellular spaces and even in the mitochondria.

    It has an array of antioxidants, including one called “superoxide dismutase,” which prevents free radicals from forming.

    Melatonin is one of the most important antioxidant molecules and certainly the most ancient, as it has been part of biological life for over 3 billion years. It’s present in prokaryotes, which are bacteria, and even in plants.

    Dr. Russell Reiter, PhD, a world-renowned expert on melatonin
    The sun and Is Melatonin a Good Antioxidant
    The sun radiation and is Melatonin a Good Antioxidant

    How Mitochondrial Melatonin Is Generated

    Mitochondrial melatonins are produced by cells in response to light. Near infrared light is emitted by sunlight and can trigger mitochondrial melatonin production.

    Near-infrared radiation (NIR) penetrates the skin and subcutis tissue. It has been shown that NIR causes mitochondrial production of melatonin. Melatonin produced by mitochondria is thought to be an important factor for protection against stress.

    That is not definitively proved, but it appears that during times of stress, all cells can increase their ability to produce melatonins because they’re so very effective. And typically, under times of stress, free radicals are produced. That is emphasized by [the fact] that in plants…that occurs.

    “In short, when exposed to drought, heat, metal toxicity, or any other stressor, plants upregulate their melatonins. We think this may be true for animals as well, including humans.”

    It may be difficult to identify exactly which wavelength(s) triggers melatonin production, but generally speaking, they’re most likely to fall within the range of 800 to 1,000 nm. These wavelengths are invisible, and have the ability to penetrate tissue; visible light doesn’t penetrate the skin, and so won’t trigger your mitochondria.

    If you’re outside during daylight hours, however, you’ll receive the benefits of near-infrared light exposure from the sun. But if you’re inside, you won’t get these benefits from windows.

    In order to compensate for time spent indoors without sunlight, I use a 250 watt photo beam near infrared bulb from SaunaSpace. I keep it lit whenever I am in my office and have no shirt on. Since most people spend most of the day inside, mitochondrial melatonin deficiency may be rampant. And, because many also lack sufficient sleep, they also have deficiencies in the melatonin produced in the pineal gland due to exposure to darkness.

    Mitochondrial melatonin production is one of the reasons why regular sun exposure is so crucial. The near-infrared spectrum, when hitting the skin, trigger the generation of melatonin in your mitochondria.

    Considering melatonin’s function within the mitochondria, and the fact that mitochondrial dysfunction is a hallmark of most chronic disease, it makes sense that melatonin would be helpful against a number of different diseases, including the two most common — heart disease and cancer.

    Dr. J. Mercola

    Is Melatonin a Good Antioxidant? Yes, it is. Furthermore, take advantage of the added benefits of Protandim Nrf1 Synergizer.

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    There are two types of melatonin: natural and synthetic.

    Melatonin is made by your pineal gland and travels through your bloodstream. Mitochondrial melatonin is made inside your cells.

    Importantly, the melanin that your mitochondria produces doesn’t escape your mitochondria. Melanin doesn’t go into your bloodstream. So, you aren’t going to directly increase your bloodstream or serum level of melanin by sun exposure. But bright sunlight around solar noon will indirectly cause your pineal gland to make melatonin during the night time.

    Melatonin levels in your blood indicate the amount of melatonin produced by your body’s pineal gland, and are not necessarily an accurate indicator of the amount of melatonin available for absorption from supplements. However, if you’re taking supplements, it’s important to know whether they contain enough melatonin to be effective.

    “In other words, if we surgically remove the pine­al gland from an animal, blood levels of melatonine are essentially zero. Not completely zero; I think what happens is the mitochondria in other cell­s continues to produce melatonin and leaky melatonin gets into the blood and gives us a residual, but we don’t have any circadian rhythms.”

    Melatonin production in mitochondria is not influenced by the light/dark cycle. In fact, it doesn’t occur at night. It occurs during daytime hours, regardless of whether it’s day or night. Mitochondrial melatonin production does respond to changes in wavelength of electromagnetic radiation, however.

    So, blood levels of melatonin are derived from the pineals glands, and this rhythm is vital for setting circadian rhythms. Other functions of melatonin include regulating sleep cycles and helping regulate body temperature. Melatonin also helps maintain healthy eyesight and may help prevent cancer. However, there is no evidence that melatonin supplements can treat depression or anxiety disorders.

    Taking an oral supplement neutralizes free radicals.

    However, oral supplements can enter your cells and even your mitochondria. This is something I was wrong about before and Reiter explains in this interview.

    “Melatonin supplements may help reduce inflammation and improve sleep quality, according to new research published in the journal Inflammation. Melatonin is an antioxidant hormone produced naturally by the pineal gland. In addition to being found in foods such as honey, bananas, tomatoes, and apples, melatonin is also sold as a dietary supplement. Researchers say that if you take melatonin regularly, it could potentially benefit people who suffer from chronic pain, insomnia, depression, anxiety, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and multiple sclerosis.”

    In the human body melatonin not only has independent direct antioxidant effects on its own, but it also stimulates the synthesis of glutathione and other important antioxidants like superoxide dismutase and catalase.

    Dr. J. Mercola

    Is Melatonin a Good Antioxidant? Indeed, it is. Furthermore, you can increase the production of Glutathione production with Protandim Nrf2 Synergizer.

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    Melatonin Is Vital to Heart Attack and Stroke Recovery

    Melatonin has been shown to help fight a variety of different diseases, including heart disease and cancer. It makes sense that melatonin could be useful for these conditions.

    Temporary interruptions of the blood supply, called “ischemia,” cause rapid deterioration of the heart and brain. Without oxygen, these tissues quickly die.

    Once the blood flow has been restored, there is a period when oxygen deprivation causes the greatest damage to the brain tissue.

    “In animal models, there are several studies showing that if you give melatonin before inducing a heart attack, you can prevent the heart from dying.”

    “Professor Dominguez Rodriguez” is a well-known cardiologist who works at the University Hospital of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (UHLP) in the Canary Islands. Three years ago, he and his team published a study showing that infusing melatonin directly into the hearts of patients after their vessels were opened during open-heart surgery reduces cardiac damage by approximately 40% compared to untreated patients.

    The other thing that occurs in a heart attack is the loss of contractility of cardiac muscle cells. These cells are replaced by scar tissue, which is not contractile, resulting in heart failure.

    “We just released another paper, with this same cardiologist from Johns Hopkins University, showing that if people with potential heart failure due to a damaged heart take melatonin regularly, they tend to live longer and healthier lives. It’s a small trial…but I think that would be an interesting field to explore.”

    Melatonin has half life of 6 hours and bioavailabilty

    Melatonin has a short half-life in the bloodstream, but its half-life inside cells depends on the level of oxidative stress. When there’s less oxidative stress, melatonin stays in the cell for a long time.

    Melatonin has been shown to be an antioxidant, but it also readily metabolizes into its active metabolites, which are even better antioxidants than melatonin itself. So, if you want to get the most benefit from taking melatonin, it makes sense to take multiple doses throughout the day rather than just one dose at night.

    You could take it orally, but if you do so, it has to pass through your stomach and then be digested by your liver before entering your blood stream. If you create a suppository, you can bypass these processes.

    Melatonin is an antiviral too!

    It has both anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties. Combined together, these two properties may explain why it has been so effective at treating COVID-19.

    “I am going to give you a really specific example,” says Reiter. “This is a local physician, Dr Richard Neil, who I know for a number of years, and when COVID-19 became so common, he called me and we discussed it, he began giving one milligram per kilogram of bodyweight once a day for about five days, right at the time of diagnosis, and he has now treated more than two thousand people, very successfully, with Melatonin.

    Melatonin has been shown to be effective against several strains of SARS CoV-2, including the one from Wuhan. It may also prevent some of the associated symptoms caused by the new virus. However, we don’t yet know if it works against all of them.

    That paper also shows how melatonin protects us against viral infections. I think melatonin is a good anti-viral agent, and should be considered as helpful. When president Trump was hospitalized with COVD, one of the molecules they gave him was melatonin. Of course, the doctors who treated him were aware of this research.

    If you’re having symptoms of coronavirus (COVID), you might consider taking oral or subcutaneous melatonin at night, first thing in the day, at 10 a. m., and again at 4 p.m. Avoid it several hours before and after solar midday, because taking supplements during that time may interfere with pineal nighttime melatonin production.

    Slow-release melatonin hasn’t been widely studied, so Dr. Reiter usually doesn’t recommend it for that reason (although there may be some exceptions).

    Melatonin for Cancer

    Melatonin has been shown to help prevent cancer by reducing inflammation and oxidative stress. It may also be helpful in treating cancer.

    “Cancer Cells Are Clever” – A Cancer Cell Will Do Anything To Permit Its Continued Survival. What Does That Mean?

    Concluding

    Is Melatonin a Good Antioxidant? Melatonin is one among the most important antioxidant molecules, and certainly the oldest, having existed in biological systems for nearly three billion years. It’s found in both prokaryotic cells (bacteria) and eukaryotic cells (plants). In humans, melatonin not only has direct antioxidant properties, but it also stimulates glutathione synthesis and increases the activity of superoxide dismutases and catalases, thus helping protect us from oxidative stress.

    Near infrared light triggers the production of melatonin inside our mitochondria, where it plays a vital role in maintaining cellular energy levels. Since mitochondrial dysfunction is a hallmark feature of almost all chronic diseases, melatonin may play a key role in preventing them.

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    Is Melatonin a Good Antioxidant for you?

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    Renaat Sioncke

    Renaat Sioncke is a full-time teacher and part-time online business owner. He's a family man with a wife and two sons. Renaat shares effective strategies for healthy living, which he specializes in. He's worked hard to build his business around his family life, and it's been a learning process. Renaat is committed to this lifestyle because it allows him to help others while also building his business and spending time with his loved ones.
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