BY BETH BRADFORD
Melatonin works in your brain to regulate your sleep cycle because it kicks in when there’s less light. Although your body produces it naturally, many of us take a melatonin supplement to help with occasional sleeplessness, jet lag, some sleep disorders in children, and pre-surgery anxiety. You might not know that melatonin can also improve the health of your eyes.
Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that can cause damage to the optic nerve, leading to vision loss and even blindness if left untreated. The condition is usually caused by increased pressure within the eye, which can damage the optic nerve over time. A 2021 study in the Journal of Pineal Research had glaucoma patients take melatonin in the evening for three months. The melatonin stabilized the patients’ circadian rhythms and improved the intraocular pressure. The supplement also improved the function of the retinal ganglion cells in those patients with advanced glaucoma.
Melatonin can improve other eye conditions, too
Uveitis is an eye condition that causes inflammation in the uvea, which is the middle layer of the eye. The uvea contains many blood vessels and is responsible for supplying blood to the retina and other parts of the eye. According to a 2008 article in The American Journal of Pathology, melatonin reduced the inflammation associated with this condition in laboratory animals.
Melatonin might also help with age-related macular degeneration, which is a progressive eye disease that affects the macula. The macula is the part of the retina that provides sharp detail to our vision.
Read More: https://www.healthdigest.com/1225350/how-melatonin-might-impact-your-eye-health/
Source: Health Digest