Edited by Sophia Savva
Why is sleep important?
Why do we do it?
Although these rhetorical questions may invoke a “duh” or two, students seem to be less and less aware of how sleep influences the human body. Research has only just begun to uncover the importance of sleep, its role in maintaining our health, and the extent of the detrimental effects caused by losing sleep. To begin to understand this soporific process, we must first be introduced to the protagonist of this story: melatonin.
Melatonin is to sleep what George R.R Martin is to Game of Thrones; it is entirely in control of the narrative of your sleep pattern, and although one might hope otherwise, it publishes only according to a schedule its readers cannot control.
Also known as the “sleep hormone”, melatonin is produced in the pineal gland during the day and released into the bloodstream when darkness is present. Regulation of this process is controlled by specific photoreceptors in the eye that detect blue light. Therefore, blue light is what keeps us awake. Its absence initiates the release of melatonin, thus triggering sleep.
While providing a good night’s sleep is important, scientists have recognized the functions of melatonin to extend beyond simply keeping us well-rested.
An experiment done in 2002 by researchers in Japan found small doses of pharmacologic melatonin to increase bone mass in mice, implying that higher melatonin levels increase bone density. Furthermore, research has revealed that melatonin has the ability to slow down breast cancer and even shrink tumours in some cancer patients. Although clinical melatonin treatment requires more research and is still relatively new, this discovery was a breakthrough for physiologists who soon found links between melatonin levels and breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colorectal cancer. More interestingly, some research illustrates a correlation between people who do shift work and a higher risk of prostate cancer.
As cities develop, shift work becomes more and more common. In addition to potentially higher cancer rates, 25-30% of security guards, nurses, and other professionals who work abnormal hours experience excessive sleepiness or insomnia. Regardless of how accustomed shift workers become to their schedules, working at night will continue to increase their melatonin levels, and sleeping during the day will continued to be interrupted by lower melatonin levels.
This strict maintenance of hormone production occurs because the “internal clock” of the brain, called the circadian rhythm, controls how the body changes from the start to the end of a day. The circadian rhythm operates on a twenty-four hour cycle because it functions according to the rise and fall of the sun. With the exception of shift work or jet lag, daylight governs all human physiological processes without disruption.
However, this has begun to change.
Technology and urbanization have shaped a society with twenty-four hours of light. The sun’s control of our circadian rhythm faces endless interference, and similar to working a night shift, spending too much time on a phone before going to bed may significantly influence one’s health. Hindering natural melatonin levels, regardless of the quality of a Netflix show or Instagram feed, affects your sleep cycle in the same way shift work does; it manipulates your brain’s perception of day and night, confusing the circadian rhythm.
So what will it be?
Unfortunately, when it’s between this cautionary article and the next episode of Game of Thrones, you and I both will be waving melatonin good-bye.