Melation and Aging - Research Paper Example

The level increases up to optimum when we are youths and latter starts declining. Many theories such as that from Hajak et al. (2003) have been put forward to explain the relationship between aging process and melatonin but none has explicitly explained the connection. This paper will explore some of the major issues involved in the hypothesis that melatonin can prolong and bring back the youthful memories. But in my findings, melatonin is just but a drug which can boost the melatonin hormone level in our body but not able prolonging or supplementing age.

Introduction Melatonin is a hormone secreted in the brain from the amino acid tryptophan within the pineal. It is a naturally occurring compound and found in animals, human beings, plants and microbes. It was discovered in 1958 by Aaron Lerner and his colleagues. It is also called hormone of darkness simply because it is produced in darkness, highest percentage produced during night hours at bed side. It aging on the other hand means or it refers to post-maturational process that leads to decrease in homeostasis and increased vulnerability of the organism more so diseases.

There has been close study on the relationship between the melatonin and the aging whether it improves or not. Zhdanova et al. (2006) claim that melatonin percentage in the body decreases as we grow old and their claims are just based on mere observation that older people do sleep less compared to younger ones. Their study also has explored other functions of melatonin not only the hypothesis but also what they termed as “a supplement to the aging but as a medicine to boost sleeping in aged people and also as treatment in” (pp.

899–907). Melatonin and Aging People all over the world wish to remain youthful and the issue of aging brings many problems and any solution to it will be gladly welcomed. Dollins et al. (2006) agree that theories and speculations relating melatonin and aging have been put forward but none of them have fully or clearly given their relationship. This compound no doubt is very vital in human life and one of study in the university of Granada, Spain carried out by Stone (2005) has proved that melatonin assist in controlling weight gain, also improves the blood lipids profile by reduction in triglycerides which increases level of good cholesterol HDL and at the same time lowering negative cholesterol called LDL.

The general levels of melatonin vary greatly throughout one’s life span. The first time melatonin is created is when a child is three months old and that is when most people start to sleep. There is a rapid increase in the level and it peaks between the age of three and four years of age, this level fall back to a plateau and it remains constant throughout adulthood. The level starts to decline as we age up. The graph below shows circadian profiles of serum melatonin concentrations in human at various ages.

Areas marked with black indicate period of darkness. By the time we are approaching seventies, the melatonin level decreases in our body to about a quarter of the original normal level when compared with time when one is young. It is thought that the drop may be associated with calcification of the pineal gland as we age