Common supplement taken by millions of Americans reverses DNA damage caused by poor sleep
A common supplement taken by millions of Americans could undo the damage caused by bad sleeping habits.
Researchers analyzed the sleep patterns and levels of the sleep hormone melatonin in night-shift workers who work overnight and sleep during the day.
Melatonin is crucial to the body’s sleep-wake cycle and typically follows the light-dark cycle of the day – suppressed when it is light out and increased when it is dark out.
In people working the average 9 to 5 job, melatonin levels rise as day turns to night. This signals to the body it is time to sleep, which plays an important role in every major system in the body, from cementing memories to repairing DNA.
But people who work the opposite schedule have suppressed levels of melatonin when it gets dark out because they are exposed to light while on the job.
This compromises the body’s ability to repair itself and puts nighttime workers at risk of a myriad of health issues, increasing their risk of certain cancers and chronic diseases.
This compromises the body’s ability to repair oxidative DNA damage, the by-product of normal cellular processes, heightening the risk of certain cancer in these workers, explain the researchers.
In a bid to counteract this effect, researchers gave 40 night shift workers melatonin supplements for four weeks.
Results showed that supplementation improved repair of damaged DNA and could be used to reverse damage in nighttime shift workers.
Melatonin is one of the nation’s most popular sleep aids and nearly two thirds of American adults have taken it as a supplement (file photo)
Melatonin is one of the nation’s most popular sleep aids and 27.4 percent of US adults – 66million people – take melatonin supplements to help them sleep, according to a 2022 Sleep Foundation survey.
The hormone, produced naturally in the brain’s pineal gland, comes in the form of a pill, gummy, powder, spray or liquid and is the most popular sleep aid in the United States.
Since melatonin is considered a supplement, it’s not regulated by the FDA.
Sleep-medicine physician Dr Lauren Goldman from the Cleveland Clinic recommends starting with 1 mg of melatonin, and then increasing by 1 mg – not to exceed 10 mg – every week until you’ve reduced the amount of time it takes you to fall asleep.
For the recent study, published in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine, half the participants took a 3 mg melatonin pill with food an hour before going to sleep during the day for four consecutive weeks.
The other half took a placebo pill on the same schedule.
They all also wore activity trackers to measure how long they slept during the day.
All the participants worked a minimum of two consecutive night shifts per week for at least six months. The shifts lasted for at least seven hours.
None had any sleep disorders or long term conditions.
Urine was collected for 48 hours, as the participants worked two night shifts in a row.
The urine sampling took place at the start of the trial and again near the end of the four weeks.
The common supplement could undo DNA damage caused by a lack of sleep, a new study shows (stock photo)
They were tested for levels of the molecule 8-OHdG, which is used as an indicator of DNA damage and to assess the risk of cancer and other chronic medical conditions.
Urinary levels of 8-OHdG were 80 percent higher during daytime sleep – indicating better repair – among those taking the melatonin supplement than those taking the placebo.
But there was no significant difference in urinary 8-OHdG levels during the following night shift.
Based on the results, the researchers concluded that Melatonin supplementation may help offset the DNA damage associated with night shift work by boosting the body’s ability to repair it.
However, the researchers acknowledged this was a small study, and most of the participants worked in healthcare, so the results may not be applicable to other types of night shift workers.
The team recommended there be larger studies looking at varying doses and the potential long term effects of melatonin supplementation.
They said: ‘Our findings warrant future larger-scale studies that examine varying doses of melatonin supplements and longer-term impacts of melatonin use.
‘Pending the outcome of such studies, melatonin supplementation may prove to be a viable intervention strategy to reduce the burden of cancer among night shift workers.’
