Take Advantage of the World Traveler's Secret to Staying Younger Longer

By Al Sears, MD
If I'd known I'd live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself. - Mark Twain

If you do a lot of traveling for business, you’ve probably already discovered melatonin. It eases jet lag and lets you get some precious sleep in those cramped airplane seats. But nature’s sleep regulator holds another little-known secret: It can reverse the effects of aging.

Melatonin holds not one but nearly half a dozen age-fighters. They can help you look and feel younger longer. And this hormone can protect your cells against deadly diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s.

Today, I’m going to tell you how you can add melatonin safely and easily to your anti-aging program, and why you should.

Boost Your Physique, Energy, and Sexual Performance With This Anti-Aging Supplement

Your body produces melatonin naturally. It’s the main hormone made by your pineal gland. This is a tiny, pea-sized gland at the base of your brain. One of the most important jobs this gland has is regulating your sleep cycle. It works like this: The pineal gland monitors changing light levels throughout the day, and when darkness falls it excretes melatonin to bring on sleep.

For decades, travelers have used melatonin to ease the transition between time zones with great success. But melatonin has other, more important, health-enhancing secrets.

Melatonin is one of the best-studied and most effective anti-aging nutrients available today. Surprised? Don’t be. For one thing, it is one of the only oral supplements that stimulates your body’s release of human growth hormone (HGH). This is the hormone that keeps you young.

In your youth, your body produces lots of HGH. But production slows down as you age. When you reverse this decline, you reverse aging. In fact, studies reported in Grow Young with HGH show that improving HGH levels heightens energy, sexual performance, muscle gain, fat loss, and skin appearance.

And melatonin works well to increase HGH levels even at small oral doses. What’s more, when you double the dose, HGH levels double. No wonder melatonin increases lifespan in study after study.

Bring Your Dying Cells Back to Life

Melatonin is also one of the most potent antioxidants ever discovered. It destroys disease-causing molecules called free radicals at an incredible pace. And it does something most other antioxidants can’t: It stimulates extra antioxidant enzymes that can protect against everything from wrinkles to illness.

One thing that causes aging and the diseases of aging is the death of cells. Your cells depend on their energy powerhouses called mitochondria. If the mitochondria are damaged, you fall victim to conditions like Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, even cancer. Protect the mitochondria from damage and you keep millions more cells alive. That means you’ll stay healthy and more youthful.

Melatonin is also quickly gaining a reputation as a cancer killer. In fact, it works so well at blocking tumors that doctors are already using it to treat cancer. And the results are promising. Melatonin enhances the effectiveness of other cancer treatments, reduces side effects of those treatments, and increases survival rates.

Melatonin may do more than just protect your body from aging. Studies show it may actually reverse aging where it matters most: your brain. (After all, what good is a younger looking body if you’re not “all there” to enjoy it?) Studies reported in the journal Neurobiology of Aging have shown that melatonin can reverse aging in the brain tissues of mice. Obviously, that’s not the same thing as reversing brain aging in people. But with all its other benefits, there’s no reason not to try melatonin. And if it helps keep your brain young in the process, so much the better.

Melatonin Helps Stop the Midnight Urge to “Get Up and Go”

Like human growth hormone, natural melatonin levels fall sharply as you age. To give you an idea of how low they get, take a look at this chart:

It’s a drop you can feel. For example, one of the most common complaints I hear from my older patients is that they’re not sleeping as well as they used to. This is often caused by a deficiency of melatonin.

And, as a side benefit, just a couple of milligrams will work wonders for men suffering from prostate trouble. Benign prostatic hyperplasia sufferers find they don’t have to get up and go as often at night when they’re taking melatonin.

Putting Melatonin to Work for You

If you’re over 50, you should think about supplementing with melatonin. There has been no evidence to tarnish its perfect safety record.

I recommend a small anti-aging dose of 0.5 mg at night. For jet lag, take 1 mg for every time zone crossed.

If you have cancer, I recommend a much higher “antioxidant dose” of 20 to 40 mg every night before bed. Of course, be sure to discuss this with your doctor first.

You can find melatonin in most health food stores and vitamin shops. It comes in tablet, liquid, and spray form.

[Ed. Note: It is entirely possible to get a full, restful night’s sleep without worrying about scary side effects from sleep aids.
Sleeping well is one key to staying healthy. In fact, you can improve your health just by making a few simple changes to your diet and lifestyle. Learn how to feel better and live longer right here.]
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This article appears courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #2391, 06-25-08], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.