We tend to associate melatonin with production by the pineal gland in the brain when the sun goes down and it’s time get sleepy.
But the primary role of melatonin is as an antioxidant in the body and a whole lot of it is found in the gut, where it plays important roles in motility (how fast or slow food and then waste moves through our digestion).
While melatonin is produced at night to help us get sleepy when we stop our exposure to the sun, we’re actually beginning to appreciate that the rest of our melatonin produced in the mitochondria relies on the sun, particularly from red and near infrared light.
