41. The Pineal Gland & Melatonin | Descartes, Darkness & How the Body Keeps Time

Send us Fan MailIn this episode of Mohivate, Dr Mohi Sarawgee explores the pineal gland and melatonin, and the ancient system that tells every cell in your body what time it is.In the 17th century, René Descartes pointed to a single structure buried at the centre of the head, a gland the size of a grain of rice, and called it the seat of the soul. For four hundred years, this tiny gland has drifted between mysticism and medicine. It has been linked to the third eye, to spiritual vision, to “brain sand,” and, more recently, to some genuinely serious neuroscience.But what is the pineal gland actually doing in there? And why is the hormone it makes, melatonin, so much more than the sleeping pill most of us believe it to be?From an organ that was once, in our evolutionary past, a literal light-sensing eye, to the darkness signal that governs your sleep, your ageing, your immune system, and even your gut, we follow melatonin’s extraordinary reach across the whole body. We explore why you wake at three in the morning, what blue light really does to your biology, why melatonin sits at the centre of research into Alzheimer’s and cancer, the truth about “decalcifying” the pineal gland, and the honest facts about the supplements sold online.With clinical insight, a little history, and a personal thread that runs through meditation and stillness, this is an episode about the small gland that keeps time for all of us, and what it means to let the body remember a rhythm it has known for millions of years.References: 1. IARC Monographs Vol 124 Group (2019). Carcinogenicity of night shift work. The Lancet Oncology, 20(8), 1058–1059. Night-shift work classified by the WHO/IARC as a probable cause of cancer (Group 2A).https://doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(19)30455-32. International Agency for Research on Cancer (2020). IARC Monographs Volume 124: NightShift Work. World Health Organization. The official WHO/IARC source; lists breast, prostate, colon and rectal cancers.https://www.iarc.who.int/news-events/iarc-monographs-volume-124-night-shift-work/3. Rhythms of life: melatonin, nutrition, sleep, and antioxidant strategies for healthy aging. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 20:1736978.https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2026.1736978/full4. The melatonin–microbiome axis: a new frontier in gut health (2025). Inflammopharmacology.https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10787-025-02005-45. Microbial melatonin metabolism in the human intestine as a therapeutic target for dysbiosis andrhythm disorders (2024). The gut producing far more melatonin than the pineal gland; gut–microbiome interaction.https://www.nature.com/articles/s41522-024-00605-66. Hardeland, R. (2015). Melatonin and brain inflammaging. Progress in Neurobiology.Melatonin declining with age, lower in Alzheimer’s, and its role against brain inflammation.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25697044/7. Melatonin as an Anti-Aging Therapy for Age-Related Cardiovascular and Neurodegenerative Diseases (2022). Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9204094/Just a gentle reminder: this episode is for information, education, and inspiration only. It’s not a substitute for your doctor’s advice. For any personal health concerns, always seek guidance from your doctor.