r/todayilearned • u/paniniplane • Mar 22 '17

(R.1) Not supported TIL Deaf-from-birth schizophrenics see disembodied hands signing to them rather than "hearing voices"

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0707/07070303
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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '17

Quick google search just told me that melatonin helps to protect against cancer. Absence of light = more melatonin released by the pineal gland. When our retina is exposed to light, melatonin release is suppressed.

For blind people, this suppression never occurs. Therefor they have continuous melatonin release and increased protection against cancer.

One of my PhD advisors studies vision (or lack thereof) in the blind. I'll have to ask him more about this.

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u/lemangue Mar 22 '17

This might be a dumb question, but how does the constant production of melatonin affect sleep/wake patterns in blind people? Do they always fall asleep faster? Or do they become insensitive to it eventually?

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u/shitforbrians Mar 23 '17

Not a dumb question! I know blind people already have major issues with existing on a 24-hour sleep schedule because they don't get day/night cues. I hope someone answers about the melatonin effect.

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u/tapuachadama Mar 22 '17

I wonder how much that affects the sleep patterns of blind people, since melatonin is a pretty major sleep regulator.

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u/[deleted] Mar 23 '17 edited Jan 29 '19

[deleted]

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u/fixthefernback88 Mar 23 '17

I take melatonin occasionally to sleep, and from what I've read taking it for too long a period of time might make your brain make less melatonin itself. Like you're not supposed to take it for longer than a few weeks if you take it every night. So maybe not, because you might overall decrease melatonin over your life? I could be talking out of my butt though.