Study: Sleep aid melatonin may help lower blood pressure

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The populat natural sleep-aid ingredient melatonin may be associated with lowering blood pressure, according to a new study recently presented at the American Heart Association hypertension sessions.



A study to determine the blood pressure lowering effect of melatonin in both younger and older normotensive and pre-hypertensive individuals was conducted at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Penn., and presented as a poster presentation here.



Mean systolic office pressure and 24-hour diastolic pressure were significantly lower following melatonin administration in both younger and older patients. Results were even more striking. The findings were of greater magnitude in the older patients.



The study concluded that these findings suggest possible future use of melatonin for lowering blood pressure in younger and older non-hypertensive individuals.



The study, Blood Pressure Lowering Effect of Melatonin in a Mixed Cohort of Younger and Older Non-Hypertensive Adults, was conducted under the direction of Cynthia Cheng and Scott Keith from the Departments of Family and Community Medicine/Biostatistics, Jefferson Medical College, and Nalaka Gooneratne of the Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.



Support for the study was from a grant award provided by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. The work was also supported by the Life Extension Foundation, which provided the Melatonin 6 Hour Timed Release 3 mg capsules used exclusively in this study.