I'm really big on sleep…and the fact that Americans just don't seem to want to admit that they need it…is a huge part of their problems with weight, hormones, and mood disorders. So over the past 6 months, I've been reading as much as I have time to read, about melatonin, the hormone that makes you sleepy. Turns out it's a huge anti-aging chemical, and if you aren't sleeping enough, it can cause a lot of serious problems.
Here's one interesting issue I ran across that might be of specific interest in PCOS. (I've noticed in the past few years that the number of women with PCOS I've helped, who are on sleep medications, has slowly and steadily been creeping upward.)
OK, keep in mind, this study was done on pigs, but it will give you the general drift.
Embryos (in petri dishes) exposed to melatonin developed more quickly than those without melatonin. And, unlike their non-exposed counterparts, the melatonin embryos also seemed to be protected against heat stress. Too much melatonin affected embryo development as well. So my point is not that you should supplement with melatonin, but that you should keep your own melatonin levels in balance with healthy sleep habits.
Remember, it's not just about getting pregnant. It's about staying pregnant and having a healthy baby. If your sleep habits are"off" now, that may have some important consequences later. And not just to you. One of the most important things you can do to balance your hormones is to develop a habit of adequate sleep and regular sleep hours.
I remember when I worked in the Silicon Valley, as the nutritionist at Apple Computer's corporate headquarters, people would come in to talk about their diet and literally brag about how few hours of sleep they were getting. I don't know where they (we) got this idea that not sleeping is somehow cool, or that it is a sign of a good work ethic, or that we somehow are superior when we don't. The truth is, it's about the absolute worst thing you can do for your health, to not value sleep. (When people would say,"I average 3-4 hours of sleep a night!"…I would think to myself…"Do you always regularly broadcast that you're not good to yourself?")
Just because you're not awake when you're sleeping…doesn't mean nothing important happens while you do it!
Rodriguez-Osorio N, Kim IJ, Wang H, Kaya A, Memili E. Melatonin increases cleavage rate of porcine preimplantation embryos in vitro. J Pineal Res. 2007 Oct;43(3):283-8.