Circadian Rhythms and Melatonin Go Hand-in-Hand

You go to bed every day at almost a specific time and wake up around the same time daily. Have you ever imagined how come this happens almost in a rhythmic fashion?

Imagine if you could not be able to set standard waking time. You may miss going to job in time. You may be late for conferences. You may delay certain crucial arrangements meant to take place within specific times.

Fortunately that is not likely to happen because our lives are naturally programmed like the clock. From the time you wake up to the time you retire to bed. There are things that just happen spontaneously, like going for meals will follow a quest for it: you are hungry.

If you have a pre-set time for going to bed then immediately that time reaches you begin to feel tired. At that moment all your body needs is the rest. You give it to your body and you won’t even need an alarm to wake you up in the morning. You just find yourself waking up when the time your body is programmed to wake reaches.

All these rhythms of activities are controlled by systems inside our bodies. It is not us who decide the things we wish to feel. Neither do we decide exactly what to want. There are systems which do that inside our bodies, making us programmed like the clock.

This controlled daily cycle of rhythmic activity that is essentially based on the 24 hours period available every day is what is referred to as the circadian rhythm. These rhythms are not just exhibited by humans alone, rather, plants and animals also exhibit the circadian rhythms.

The rhythms relate to the 24 hour cycle of the solar and applies even to microbes like bacteria and fungi. All physiological responses are controlled within this system of activities: strength of the muscles, blood pressure, body temperature, hormonal circulation, neurotransmitter circulation and a number of other metabolic and physiological processes all follow the cycle of circadian rhythms.

Circadian Rhythms

With that background it becomes easier to understand therefore that diseases and wellbeing are channeled into these circadian rhythms. The diseases also follow their particular rhythms in the body. They are also controlled variously. For instance, studies indicate that certain breast cancer tumors grow faster at daytime that during the night.

Melatonin and the Body Processes

Melatonin, a substance produced by the brain, plays a critical role in not only growth but almost all essential processes in your body.

Some accumulating proof is indicating that interference with circadian rhythms has a close link to the growth of cancer, particularly the breast cancer. This is related to a complex network of interrelated physiological or neuroendocrineimmune processes controlled and regulated in distinct ways. In the middle of these processes is the chemical component Melatonin. Research has found that Melatonin produced in highest amounts at night during dark hours is perhaps the most crucial endogenous component in the actual regulation of these circadian rhythms and the clocks.

It works variously to ensure control of these processes including the suppression of the production of estrogen which are related to the causes of cancer. As such Melatonin has a key role in the treatment of cancer among other serious diseases.