The Interaction of Diet, Melatonin, and Sleep Deprivation

Everyone complains about their lack of sleep these days. Getting a good night’s sleep every night is important for good mental and physical health. Poor sleep has many negative consequences, including a greater risk for obesity, diabetes, and cancer, as well as disorders of the heart, respiratory system, gastrointestinal system, musculoskeletal system, endocrine, and urogenital system.

Too many people go to bed too late on too many nights. The reason is that going to bed later just feels better; in addition, we tend to fall asleep faster if we delay going to bed. Going to bed one hour later every night is easier than going to bed one hour earlier. Why? Because humans evolved an endogenous biological clock that is set for 25 hours while we live in a world that functions on a strict 24-hour cycle. This means that it is always easier to go to bed one hour later.

When people delay going to bed at a regular time, they tend to also consume an unhealthy diet containing lots of fatty foods. Eating fatty foods can induce persistent disruption of the circadian rhythm of our fat cells. Yes, fat cells have their own circadian clock that coordinates the daily timing of lipolysis (the loss of fat), adipogenesis (the deposition of fat), inflammation (produced by fat), and brown adipose tissue thermogenesis (the production of heat to maintain body temperature). When fat cell circadian rhythms are disrupted, the consequence is obesity.

So, what’s more important to general health? Eating less fat or getting regular sleep? Studies in humans have shown that circadian disruption can impair glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity even on a low-fat diet. Therefore, eating less fat will not protect someone from the consequences of getting too little sleep. If you disrupt your sleep rhythm by staying up too late every night, even with a low-fat diet, you will deposit more fat and become obese. If you would like to read more about this topic, go here.

Sleep deprivation also disrupts the normal functioning of the brain through several mechanisms. One of the most obvious effects is increased oxidative stress. Insufficient sleep leads to the accumulation of reactive oxygen species, which damages cellular components such as lipids, proteins, and DNA. This damage is particularly harmful to brain regions such as the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, which are critical for the performance of normal daily performance, such as learning, memory, and paying attention. Taking a free radical scavenger every night might help.

Melatonin plays an important role in the transition to sleep during the normal sleep period and is an effective free radical scavenger. It is produced in the pineal gland and retina from serotonin. Melatonin secretion begins in the early evening and is quickly catabolized. Melatonin regulates circadian rhythms such as sleep-wake cycles, neuroendocrine rhythms, and body temperature cycles. For these reasons, it is often used to alleviate symptoms of jet lag and insomnia.

Thanks to its powerful antioxidant properties, melatonin reduces the level of free radicals, protects against cellular damage, and supports repair processes disrupted by sleep deprivation. However, taking melatonin is not without negative consequences. Long term, high-dose melatonin intake can produce vivid nightmares, depression, irritability, confusion, and, ironically, poor sleep quality. The reason for these side effects is that melatonin has two receptors in the brain. Stimulating one of them turns on REM/dream sleep and reduces NREM sleep, while stimulating the other receptor does the exact opposite, i.e. turns on NREM sleep and reduces REM sleep. Taking melatonin stimulates them both! In addition, people take way too much melatonin at night. A typical melatonin pill contains 50,000,000,000 times more melatonin than is released by the brain each night. That’s more melatonin in one pill than the brain will produce in a thousand lifetimes.

In conclusion, don’t stay up later every night; keep a regular sleep/wake cycle and don’t eat high-fat foods late at night. If you choose to use melatonin, buy the smallest dose, break the pill into the smallest piece possible, and discontinue use after two weeks.