Health Update: Good night's sleep

MELATONIN, a hormone secreted in the brain, may improve sleeping patterns in brain-damaged children and give their families some desperately needed relief, according to a study published in Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology. Melatonin, which is thought to play a part in controlling daily body rhythms, was used in a study of 15 Canadian children with severe sleep disturbance, whose families were all in crisis. Thirteen out of the 15 children showed an improvement, often dramatic, in their sleeping patterns and no side-effects were noted.