For women in spontaneous labor, contractions are usually two to five minutes apart, last from 30 to 60 seconds, and have moderate strength. The easiest way to assess the power of labor is to time the frequency and duration of the contractions (from the beginning of one to the beginning of the next).
Melatonin, hormone secreted by the pineal gland, a tiny endocrine gland situated at the centre of the brain. Melatonin was first isolated in 1958 by American physician Aaron B. Lerner and his colleagues at Yale University School of Medicine.
It oversees the other glands and keeps hormone levels in check. It can bring about a change in hormone production somewhere else in the system by releasing its own âstimulatingâ hormones. The pituitary gland is also connected to the nervous system through part of the brain called the hypothalamus. The hormones released by the pituitary gland are gonadotropins (LH and FSH), growth hormone (GH), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), prolactin, antidiuretic hormone and oxytocin.