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Some videos about Melatonin and other molecules
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Disclaimer: I am not a medic, this is not medical advice, it is educational material for you to discuss with your health care professional. It is impressive how much progress has been made in recent years in understanding what causes cells to deteriorate in their function and importantly how to reverse that process. I have personally been experimenting with a wide range of molecules in recent years and keeping detailed records of the outcomes. Initially I started with the objective of improving my sleep having suffered from insomnia for decades. However, as it started studying the issue further I reset my objective to improving my cellular health. Once you start getting into the issues it is quite interesting how there can be a conflict over such simple questions as to how much Vitamin D to take. The evidence is there that there are two metabolites of 25OHD and I have come to the conclusion that we should aim to have both available for our metabolism. However, governments still recommend a lower dose of vitamin D that generally will only provide people with one metabolite. Because I started with the issue of sleep unsurprisingly I have been looking at Melatonin. Again here there is a debate. I must admit that having read a lot of research on Melatonin I think the conventional wisdom is wrong. It is accepted that Melatonin is injected into the third ventricle of the Cerebral Spinal Fluid. That liquid only turns over at about 20% an hour. Hence the level of Pineal Melatonin that is found in the Blood Serum will lag that generated by the Pineal gland by some hours. As its half life is only 30 minutes it is not surprising that the level found in the blood it 20-5% of that in the CSF and Brain. It is also clear from research that Melatonin does exert a GABAergic effect in that it enhances the effect of GABA and this assist with sleep. However, to get that you will need quite a high blood serum concentration for some time. My own experimentation has led me to conclude as a working hypothesis that there is somewhere either in the SCN or Pineal Gland a negative feedback mechanism on Melatonin so that as the blood serum level goes up (after the level in the CSF has increased and fed back into the blood) then pineal melatonin generation is reduced. In a sense this is similar to the ACTH feedback mechanism, but slower. Hence if you want a useful effect of melatonin for extending sleep it has to be taken part way through the night. However, the issue of Melatonin does not stop there. Firstly, we need to look at the Greg Fahy TRIIM and TRIIM-x trials. These involve participants having exogenous HGH and DHEA as well as metformin. Those have demonstrated many anti-aging effects such as the demethylation of the epigenome. The relevance is that Melatonin itself can stimulate the body to produce more HGH and also DHEAS (which acts as a pool for DHEA in a similar way that 25OHD acts as a pool for the primary active form of Vitamin D). Of course Berberine is a possible alternative to Metformin. So for a few more months than a year I have been trying this approach. Of course taking melatonin during the night not before going to bed. If you take it before going to bed exogenous melatonin is likely to reduce endogenous melatonin. Ideally it needs to be taken when the pineal gland is about to stop producing it. That time will vary from person to person, but for me is I think about midnight to 2am. I have also been losing weight. I think my health has substantially improved in a number of ways beyond what would be expected merely from stopping being obese. There is, in fact, quite a bit of research evidence that Melatonin can demethylate DNA particularly in plants, but also in some mammals. It does strike me that this is a candidate for further research when it comes to human beings. Even if it is not demethylating my epigenome I am quite pleased that I now sleep a lot better. I may, of course, be wrong. However, I thought I should make this information public just in case I am right. Best, however, to talk to your healthcare professional before doing anything. November 2021 Some extra reading: TRIIM trial Melatonin generates DHEAS Melatonin generates HGH Melatonin is GABAergic Melatonin can demethylate the epigenome |