๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ฒ?
Well, the vast majority of us are now light deprived during the day as we work indoors more, and dark deprived during the night, as we have our houseย ๐กย ๐กlights, TVย ๐บ, laptopsย ๐ปand phonesย ๐ฑon late into the evening.
What does this unnatural blue lightย ๐กย ๐กin the evening mean to our health?
No Melatonin!!
Melatonin, otherwise known as the โSleep Hormoneโย ๐ดhas so many more specific and crucial effects within your body than just helping us to fall asleep.
We are only now beginning to understand why it is so important and why getting a good night sleepย ๐ดis by far the most important element of your longevity routine.
Melatonin is thought to activate and regulate over 500 genesย ๐งฌthat are involved in DNAย ๐งฌrepair and antioxidant function within your body.
We have seen everyone jumping on the bandwagon about sulforaphaneย ๐ฅฌย activating something called Nrf2. Well, Melatonin might have more of a beneficial effect!!
Melatonin has a potent antioxidant effect by up regulating endogenous cellular antioxidant defence enzymes such as SOD, GPX1 and CAT (in the same way that broccoli andย ๐ฅฌsulforaphane does), by activating the Nrf2 -ARE transcription pathway, which helps protect cells from oxidative stress and inflammation.ย ๐ฅ
In addition, Melatonin induces Phase II Detox enzymes, GCLM, NQO1 and HO-1 to name but a few.
We (Muhdo Health) have also seen that taking a dose of 5mg/day increased SOD, CAT, and glutathione reductase activities and reduced malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, which is a carcinogenic compound causing potential toxicย โ ๏ธ๐คฎeffects.
It is also crucial that we obtain sufficient selenium levels as GPX1 (Glutathione Peroxidase) is a seleno-protein structure. And how much GPX1 you produce will largely come down to the amount of selenium you are consuming and is within your system.