Melatonin – hormones affecting mental health
From the book – Chapter 4: Hormones and Brain Chemicals
Melatonin
Produced by: pineal gland in brain.
Function: regulates sleep-wake cycle.
Low levels linked to: insomnia, depression, seasonal affective disorder.
Affected by: light exposure, screen time, irregular sleep schedule.
Read the full chapter – Chapter 4: Hormones and Brain Chemicals
Stories from real life
- Night Shifts and Biscuits – Neha, thirty-one, was a staff nurse in Mumbai who worked three weeks of night shifts each month. Between 2 and 4 a.m. she kept going on…
- Tired All the Time, and Not Just Sad – Kavita, thirty-eight, taught primary school in Lucknow. For almost six months she had felt tired in a way that sleep did not fix. She had put…
- Heat, Hormones and Hurtful Words – Lakshmi, forty-seven, ran a small tailoring shop in Madurai. Over the past year her periods had become irregular, and she woke drenched at night with hot…
- It Is Not Only a Chemical – Tom, twenty-nine, was an engineer in Glasgow who had been feeling flat for months. He ate takeaway at his desk, slept until noon at weekends and…
Shloks
- Bhagavad Gita 6.16 – Yoga is not for one who overeats or starves, nor for one who sleeps too much or never sleeps.
More on this topic: The brain, hormones and body chemistry behind your moods
More questions
- Understanding the mind-body connection – hormones and brain chemicals
- In more depth – the mind-body connection
- Keeping hormones in balance: food, lifestyle and warning signs – explained simply
- Which neurotransmitter is mainly associated with mood regulation, sleep and appetite, and is often low in depression?
- Chronic elevation of which hormone is linked to anxiety, depression and sleep problems?
- What is true: dopamine is primarily involved in…?
- What is true: GABA is the brain's main…?
- Which hormone regulates the sleep-wake cycle?
- What does Bhagavad Gita 6.16 mean for the mind?
- Night Shifts and Biscuits – what this story teaches, the signs and what to do