CBSE Class 10 Answered
Pineal gland produces melatonin hormone. This hormone is important to maintain the sleep patterns and maintain the photoperiodic functions. Pineal gland appears to play a major role in sexual development, hibernation in animals, metabolism, and seasonal breeding. Melatonin levels are high at night and low during the day. Melatonin has important effects in integrating photoperiod and affecting circadian rhythms. Hence it has significant effects on reproduction, sleep-wake cycles and other phenomena showing circadian rhythm.
Melatonin levels are much higher in children under age seven than in adolescents and are lower still in adults. Melatonin apparently acts to keep a child's body from undergoing sexual maturation, since sex hormones such as luteotropin, which play a role in the development of sexual organs, emerge only after melatonin levels have declined.