Every day, we encounter stressors that make it difficult to maintain a healthy balance in life. And lately it may seem that events ‘out of our control’ are causing much of our anxiety, leading to disrupted sleep patterns. We may feel that we are operating in a ‘pressure cooker’ environment with no time for ourselves. Blocking out time for meditation, exercise, or preparing healthy meals may be difficult. One way to make time for ourselves as we navigate a stress laden path may be a simple as putting down the phone, taking a deep breath and pausing to notice the breath, or to begin a practice of doing just one thing at a time. 

We have lived with conflict for so long it has resulted in our accepting a ‘culture of trauma’ – one that accepts conflict as the norm. This kind of behavior can disrupt our equilibrium and produce a state of being ‘hyper-alert’ to events, creating anxiety and ultimately disrupting our wake-sleep cycle. Our bodies produce the hormone melatonin, but in times of stress, melatonin is depleted. Among other things, this can contribute to insomnia. After a long period of insomnia (called ‘chronic’) the very gland that provides the hormone melatonin (pineal gland at the base of the brain) is disrupted. Chronic disruption of the brain’s internal clock, such as through shiftwork or insomnia, harms mental and physical health. 

While melatonin is known to help one fall asleep and restore normal circadian (sleep-wake) processes (Burman, 2017; Life Extension, 2021, Xi et al, 2017), it does so much more than that. Melatonin promotes sleep quality, plus it has strong whole-body health benefits. For example, melatonin supports and helps to modulate a healthy immune system. Melatonin also supports healthy cellular DNA and mitochondria (Spinedi & Cardinal, 2019), including by the inhibition of oxidative damage (Di Bella et al, 2013). Research has shown melatonin plays an important role in supporting healthy cardiovascular systems (Sun et al, 2016). For a more complete understanding of the role melatonin plays in your physical and mental health, see the list of references at the bottom of this newsletter. 

Undertaking a journey to reach your best health (including resolving today’s stresses) may take a while, but it is quite possibly the most important event of your lifetime. To support you on your path, we are offering a Coupon Discount for 35% off the Café Doc listed price for melatonin for February 2021 (limit four per customer). This product is known to help support a quality wake-sleep cycle. 

All Life Extension melatonin products are created to be bioidentical to the melatonin made by the human body. While most Life Extension melatonin products are vegan, three are not: (see items 00329, 02201 and 01551 below).

Note: Life Extension wellness specialists recommend that one should start with a low dose when starting to use melatonin. They recommend beginning with 1.5 mg. and increasing over time. And at the most, to begin with no more than 3 mg.