|
|
Article: TINY DOSE OF MELATONIN FOUND TO INDUCE SLEEP
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- November 23, 1993
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
|
A man given minute quantities of the hormone melatonin by mouth
during the day will fall asleep, even though he may have slept well
the night before, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology have found.
Melatonin, a hormone naturally produced at night by the pineal
gland deep inside the brain, has been known to make people sleepy
when administered in large quantities - doses of as much as 240
milligrams. But it was not clear it actually induced sleep.
However, in the new study subjects were given 0.3 mg, roughly one-
thousandth of the previous dose, according to Richard J. Wurtman,
chief researcher on the study and head of the MIT Clinical Research
Center, where the study ...