We think of melatonin primarily for its association with sleep. There is a good reason for this. We know that the Pineal gland located in our brain is responsible for secreting melatonin and that this secretion is dependent on the circadian rhythm of the light-dark cycle that should occur in our daily life. Artificial light and electronic devices emitting “blue light” has a stimulatory effect on our nervous system that interferes with melatonin production resulting in less than adequate sleep cycles. This results in poor concentration during the day and the need for catching up on sleep at other times. More importantly is that during a restful night’s sleep the body removes waste from the brain. 

The glymphatics are the lymphatics of the brain and with a restful night’s sleep we remove potentially neurotoxic products like beta-amyloid, tau proteins, alpha-synuclein and neurofibrillary tangles which are responsible for neurological diseases such as dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and M.S. respectively. In a study “Protection of Metal Toxicity by Melatonin – Recent Advances” published in...