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Hormone helps

you sleep:

research

LONDON: Hormone treatment can help insomnia sufferers to get to sleep, Israeli researchers have founds, the British medical periodical The Lancet reported Saturday.

The hormone, melatonin, which is secreted by the pineal gland at the base of the brain, had been suspected of playing a role in sleep patterns, as it was found to be produced in greater quantities at night.

Supplementary treatment with melatonin had already proved helpful in overcoming jet-lag, and The Lancet said it had now been discovered useful for insomniacs.

A team led by Professor Nava Zisapel of the biochemistry department of the George Wise University found that sufferers from insomnia treated with small and regular doses of the hormone went to sleep more quickly and woke less frequently during the night.

The researchers said a frequent dosage was necessary as melatonin was rapidly broken down by the body.-AFP