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Article: Melatonin for Shift-Work Insomnia.
- Article from:
- The Pharmacist's Dietary Supplement Alert
- Article date:
- July 1, 2000
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Melatonin for Shift-Work Insomnia
By Aaron H. Burstein, PharmD
As much as 7% of the american labor force works rotating shifts or exclusively night shifts..sup.1 One difficulty in working such shifts is the transition back to a regular sleep/wake cycle. Melatonin has been advocated as an antioxidant to slow aging, an adjunct to cancer chemotherapy, a contraceptive, and a promoter of sleep, especially for jet lag, another type of shift in sleep schedule.
Pharmacology and Mechanism of Action
Melatonin is an endogenous hormone synthesized within the pineal gland through a series of metabolic conversions. (See Figure 1.) The cascade is ...