Health: Sleep All Day!

Do melatonin supplements really help people sleep? Millions of jet-lagged and sleep-deprived Americans--citing countless self-help articles--insist they do. But the scientific evidence has been slim. There's no question that the hormone helps the brain tell a.m. from p.m.--regulating sleep cycles and circadian timing--when it is produced naturally by the body at night. What was lacking was clear evidence that taking melatonin in supplement form had the same sleep-inducing effect.

That's why there's so much interest in a study in the current issue of the journal Sleep. Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School set out to test melatonin's effects...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!