Given melatonin's ability in regulating our circadian rhythms, it has also been used to reduce the effects of jet lag. When we fly across several time zones (e.g. New York to London), within a few hours the body is thrust into an entirely different time of day. It is put on a very different clock.

In its normal physiological schedule, the body may be ready for dinner and then an evening of activity afterwards, whereas in the new time zone it is already bedtime. And around the time the body is preparing itself for a good sleep, morning has arrived and we must be about our daily activities.

Because melatonin levels rise towards bedtime and thereby help induce sleep, taken at the appropriate time in a new time zone, melatonin can help the body to get to sleep more readily at the new bedtime. It helps the body reset the physiological clock, so to speak. It helps the body to adjust its daily rhythms to coincide with the newly imposed external time.

Something akin to the manner of HGH, melatonin, too, can produce its effects throughout the body. Also, as is the case for most hormones, the levels of melatonin diminish as we age. Around age 45 these levels drop off sharply, and it has been posited that it is these decreasing levels of melatonin that are at least partly responsible for the levels of other hormones beginning their age-related decline.

Research conducted by Dr. Walter Pierpaoli and Dr. William Regelson demonstrated rather dramatically the involvement of melatonin in the aging process. They transferred the pineal glands of young mice into old mice, and those of the old mice into the young mice. The old mice with the young pineal glands showed a rejuvenation on many fronts: renewed vigor and energy, youthful looking fur, younger skin. Most significantly, they lived 30% longer than normal, and maintained their youthful characteristics almost until they died.

The young mice, on the other hand, the ones whose original pineal glands had been replaced with old pineal glands, died 30% sooner than did those in the control group. They also showed a more rapid deterioration in the condition of their fur, as well as in their energy levels and vitality.