Word: pineal
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Persuading a teenager to go to bed and get up on a reasonable schedule is another matter entirely. This kind of decision making has less to do with the frontal lobe than with the pineal gland at the base of the brain. As nighttime approaches and daylight recedes, the pineal gland produces melatonin, a chemical that signals the body to begin shutting down for sleep. Studies by Mary Carskadon at Brown University have shown that it takes longer for melatonin levels to rise in teenagers than in younger kids or in adults, regardless of exposure to light or stimulating activities...
...With age, the cells in the hypothalamus become less active. It's a situation that is made worse by the fact that the elderly tend to spend less time outdoors in the sunlight, which increases melatonin production in the pineal gland, causing sleep and mood disturbances. In earlier studies, Van Someren showed that Alzheimer's patients living in homes who preferred darker rooms were the most restless during the night. Combined with this study's findings, he now believes that the inactivity of these biological-clock cells can be reversed...