X-Message-Number: 4428 From: Peter Merel <> Subject: CRYONICS melatonin Date: Mon, 22 May 1995 00:39:00 +1000 (EST) Robert Ettinger writes, >[What's the scoop on melatonin] There's been considerable traffic in sci.life-extension dealing with melatonin over the last year; I'll reproduce some of it here. The basic story seems to be that melatonin supplementation in mice has been shown to increase maximum life-span by about the same degree as calorie restriction does - ie. about 30%. Many folks have gone right out and bought melatonin supplements, which are available OTC in the US, but this is probably a little premature - supplemental melatonin taken on the wrong schedule can actually depress your melatonin levels, so it would probably be a good idea to wait until a time-release version of the hormone becomes available. Apparently a number of different companies are working on such a thing. The fact that mel. supplementation seems to have had a similar effect to CR has got a lot of people thinking. Apparently a strict CR schedule also bumps up mel. levels, so it may be that the benefits of CR are entirely due to increased mel. On the other hand, CR affect a great many bodily functions, most especially glucose metabolism, so it may be that the two together would be synergistic. No one seems to have the faintest idea whether this is really so at the moment. If you are really interested in taking the stuff, you should probably read the melatonin articles that VRP have at http://www.quake.net/~xdcrlab/hp.html I think that VRP sell melatonin supplements, but their articles have a lot of references at the end that you might use to verify their treatment. Here's a couple of recent s.l-e clippings. I better warn folks that I'm not a doctor, I don't take melatonin, I didn't write what follows and I have no idea if it's true. I've been doing CR for about 6 months, and I have no intention of bothering with mel. on a regular basis until some more results come in. -- The connection between light and melatonin is direct. Light stimulates adrenergic (norepinephrine using) neurons which inhibit the pineal gland. When light ceases at the end of the day, this inhibition ends and melatonin production begins. The use of light to delay and magnify melatonin release is effective, but time consuming. Melatonin supplements do essentially the same thing. SAD is probably caused by subtle shifts in the circadian rhythm caused by seasonal variations of the photoperiod. Extending the photoperiod by an hour in the morning or evening seems to provide clinical relief. When using melatonin for SAD, these subtle timing effects may be just as important. If taking melatonin just before bed doesn't help enough, try taking it two hours earlier. If that's not effective, try taking it an hour after dusk. Standard dosing is 3 mg, but individual dosages have ranged from 0.33 mg to over 20. The most common dose is 3 or 6 mg. If you wake up in the AM with a "lethargic" hangover, you are probably taking too much. I'm not sure what tanning might be doing. :-) Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=4428