Participants included 22 children suffered ADHD and concomitant sleep problems patients who underwent melatonin prescription and placebo at night in two sequencial periods. The effects of the melatonin were compared with placebo on the sleep problem improvements in each one.
Although sleep onset, total sleep time and sleep quality advanced with melatonin, wake up time and the time to go to bed had not significant difference between the melatonin and placebo group. In addition, there were significant effects on attention, hyper activity index and impulsivity of the patients in the melatonin group.
Melatonin advanced circadian rhythms of sleep-wake and not only enhanced total time asleep in children with ADHD and chronic sleep onset insomnia, but also can improve the quality of life of these patients.