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Melatonin is extremely effective at boosting the immune system. This is critical to know especially if you or your loved ones become infected with COVID-19. Having a strong immune system is critical to not experiencing the havoc caused by the virus on our bodies.
When any pathogen (which basically means any organism which has the potential to produce disease) infects our body, it triggers and amplifies a full body immune response. For instance, when we inhale any virus which has the ability to infect lung cells, the lung’s dendritic cells gobble up the virus and destroy it. The pathogen’s (in this case, the virus’) remaining fragments (also called “antigens”) are then attacked and destroyed by our immune system’s cytotoxic CD8+ T cells. These T-cells kill infected lung cells by producing pro-inflammatory cytokines and in turn, recruiting additional immune cells which can eventually cause uncontrollable widespread damage throughout the lungs.
The pathogen and the killing of infected cells by the immune system together can cause our breathing system to collapse (also known as acute respiratory distress syndrome).
The clinical characteristics of COVID-19 suggest that only those people with a suppressed level of white blood cells are at an increased risk of becoming extremely ill. These people do not have a strong enough immune system capable of adequately controlling the havoc caused by our body’s natural immune response to destroying any pathogen.
Luckily for us, melatonin acts as an immunomodulatory agent which can dramatically boost our immune system fairly quickly. It does so by improving the proliferation and maturation of the immune system’s natural killing cells (i.e., T and B lymphocytes, granulocytes, monocytes, macrophages) capable of responding to threats and not overkilling to many cells. Since Melatonin is only naturally produced by our bodies when the sun sets and we close our eyes to rest, it is of utmost importance to get proper rest every night in order to adequately produce Melatonin from our brain. Melatonin is not produced when we are awake and looking at screens or exposed to the light emitted from electricity.
The following are my list of tips for boosting your melatonin levels by basically getting quality sleep every night:
Tips for Better Sleep
Recommended Sleeping Hours
Here are some guidelines to help you understand how much sleep you and your family members need:
In Sum
Stick to the recommended habits to improve your sleep cycle. You may not see a difference immediately, but over time your sleep cycle will improve. There are certain sleep disorders for which these habits may not help, such as apnea, restless legs syndrome, and narcolepsy. If you find that your sleep cycle doesn’t improve, make sure to visit your doctor.
One Last Note on Melatonin as an Immunomodulatory Agent:
NOD-like receptor 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome is part of the innate immune response during lung infection. Inflammasomes play a crucial role in innate immunity by serving as signaling platforms which deal with a host of pathogenic products and cellular products associated with stress and damage. The best studied and most characterized inflammasome is NLRP3 inflammasome. Activation of NLRP3 inflammasome is mediated by highly diverse stimuli; any pathogen, including a virus triggers NLRP3 activation to amplify the inflammation. As mentioned last week, there is a ton of research already completed about shutting off the immune system and controlling the inflammatory pathways activated by pathogens infecting human cells. The problem is these pharmaceutical drugs do further weaken a person’s immune system and cause them to be more susceptible to the havoc caused by any and all types of pathogens they are exposed to going forward.
So, don’t be fooled. The latest NLRP3 inflammasome-blocking drugs (or COVID-19 drugs) WILL NOT CURE YOUR PROBLEMS.
In a mouse model, inhibition of NLRP3 in the early phase of infection increased mortality, whereas suppression of NLRP3 at the peak of infection provided protection from mortality (Tate et al., 2016). This supports the use of melatonin in ALI/ARDS when inflammation is most severe (not in the early phase of infection).
Inflammasome NLRP3 is correlated to lung diseases caused by infection, including influenza A virus, syncytial virus, and bacteria (Mei et al., 2007; Tate et al., 2016; Shen et al., 2020), and SARS-CoV-2 may soon be added to this list. How does melatonin once again come into play? The efficacy of melatonin in regulating NLRP3 has been proven in radiation-induced lung injury, allergic airway inflammation, and oxygen-induced ALI and LPS-induced ALI models. In all of these cases, melatonin reduces the infiltration of macrophages and neutrophils into the lung in ALI due to the inhibition of NLRP3 inflammasome (Sun et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2016; Wu et al., 2019a-b).
The more you know, the more you need to sleep!
Dr. Bhandari and the Advanced Health Team Are Here to Support Your Health.
Our expert team of integrative holistic practitioners work with patients suffering from chronic health concerns. We help our patients reverse disease by better understanding how the body optimally functions and providing personalized treatment plans. To learn more and book an appointment, contact Advanced Health or call 1-415-506-9393.
References
Chen, N., Zhou, M., Dong, X., Qu, J., Gong, F., Han, Y., ... & Yu, T. (2020). Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 99 cases of 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a descriptive study. The Lancet, 395(10223), 507-513.
Kaur, C., & Ling, E. A. (1999). Effects of melatonin on macrophages/microglia in postnatal rat brain. Journal of pineal research, 26(3), 158-168.
Liu, Y., Yang, Y., Zhang, C., Huang, F., Wang, F., Yuan, J., ... & Zhang, Z. (2020). Clinical and biochemical indexes from 2019-nCoV infected patients linked to viral loads and lung injury. Science China Life Sciences, 63(3), 364-374.
Mei, S. H., McCarter, S. D., Deng, Y., Parker, C. H., Liles, W. C., & Stewart, D. J. (2007). Prevention of LPS-induced acute lung injury in mice by mesenchymal stem cells overexpressing angiopoietin 1. PLoS Med, 4(9), e269.
Miller, S. C., Pandi, P. S., Esquifino, A. I., Cardinali, D. P., & Maestroni, G. J. (2006). The role of melatonin in immuno‐enhancement: potential application in cancer. International journal of experimental pathology, 87(2), 81-87.
Rogers, M. C., & Williams, J. V. (2018). Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes? Regulation of cell-mediated immune responses following viral lung infections. Annual review of virology, 5, 363-383.
Shen, C., Zhang, Z., Xie, T., Ji, J., Xu, J., Lin, L., ... & Shan, J. (2020). Rhein suppresses lung inflammatory injury induced by human respiratory syncytial virus through inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome activation via NF-κB pathway in mice. Frontiers in pharmacology, 10, 1600.
Sun, C. K., Lee, F. Y., Kao, Y. H., Chiang, H. J., Sung, P. H., Tsai, T. H., ... & Chen, Y. L. (2015). Systemic combined melatonin–mitochondria treatment improves acute respiratory distress syndrome in the rat. Journal of Pineal Research, 58(2), 137-150.
Tate, M. D., Ong, J. D., Dowling, J. K., McAuley, J. L., Robertson, A. B., Latz, E., ... & Mansell, A. (2016). Reassessing the role of the NLRP3 inflammasome during pathogenic influenza A virus infection via temporal inhibition. Scientific reports, 6, 27912.
Wu, H. M., Xie, Q. M., Zhao, C. C., Xu, J., Fan, X. Y., & Fei, G. H. (2019a). Melatonin biosynthesis restored by CpG oligodeoxynucleotides attenuates allergic airway inflammation via regulating NLRP3 inflammasome. Life Sciences, 239, 117067.
Wu, X., Ji, H., Wang, Y., Gu, C., Gu, W., Hu, L., & Zhu, L. (2019b). Melatonin alleviates radiation-induced lung injury via regulation of miR-30e/NLRP3 Axis. Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, 2019.
Yang, C. Y., Chen, C. S., Yiang, G. T., Cheng, Y. L., Yong, S. B., Wu, M. Y., & Li, C. J. (2018). New insights into the immune molecular regulation of the pathogenesis of acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. International journal of molecular sciences, 19(2), 588.
Zhang, Y., Li, X., Grailer, J. J., Wang, N., Wang, M., Yao, J., ... & Li, X. (2016). Melatonin alleviates acute lung injury through inhibiting the NLRP3 inflammasome. Journal of pineal research, 60(4), 405-414.
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