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High blood pressure is becoming a more prevalent health risk, especially in the industrialized nations. Americans and Europeans are seeing alarming rises in cases of hypertension and increased cholesterol levels.
This problem has been attributed to a number factors, including poor diet, sedentary jobs, long working hours, insufficient cardiovascular exercise, high rates of obesity and stress.
There are a number of pharmaceutical option that are available to someone with hypertension, and these treatments usually accompany instructions to make considerable life changes to keep blood pressure at a safe level in the future.
This process can take many months, and it is important that there are regular checks carried out by your doctor to ensure that progress is being made.
So, it is not surprising there was interest when a study conducted in the Netherlands by Dr F A J L Steer, now at Harvard Medical School, found that people who suffer from hypertension who took melatonin regularly at night could lower their blood pressure levels.
So, lets understand why this could be the case.
Melatonin is a hormone, which is naturally occurring in our bodies and is secreted by the pineal gland, a small pea size structure which is found at the center of the brain. Melatonin is produced at night and helps to regulate the body during our sleep and wake cycles.
As a person ages, their levels of melatonin tend to drop, and this may go some way to explaining why older people seem to require less sleep, or find it more difficult to sleep.
The research team arranged for 16 men who were suffering from untreated hypertension to take either 2.5mg of melatonin each night an hour before bed or a placebo.
After 3 weeks the subjects taking the melatonin had significantly lower blood pressure levels than the subjects taking the placebo.
Therefore anecdotally, based on the study, it was thought that if someone were to take melatonin for an extended period of time then this could help stabilize blood pressure levels.
The team found that a single dose of melatonin was not effective in treating high blood pressure problems, and that it took a few days of following the regime to see a difference to blood pressure levels.
However, it is difficult to attribute the improved blood pressure levels to the melatonin only, as the improvement may be linked to the subjects getting a better quality and potentially longer sleep each night.
There has certainly been some compelling evidence that shows sleep deprived individuals have higher blood pressure readings than those who get a normal healthy night sleep.
On the basis one trial, which included only 16 subjects, it is not possible or reasonable to suggest that there is enough evidence to show that melatonin does lower blood pressure, but there does seem a ground for further research.
Continue reading to discover about natural methods to relieve high blood pressure and sign up for our free newsletter.
It is a shame that no further research seems to have been carried out since to establish more evidence of a link between melatonin and high blood pressure symptom relief.
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