Cure For Jet Lag?

Travellers can fight jetlag by getting exposed to short flashes of light at night, say US scientists.

21:05 10 February 2016

Jetlag, which messes with the body clock, can leave travellers tired, irritable and disoriented for days. To combat the symptoms, some people take melatonin tablets, which mimic a hormone released in the evening.

 

Stanford researchers said that travelers can fight jetlag if they are exposed to short flashes of light at night. They explained that the light beams travel through the eyelids and tells the brain to re-set the body’s inner biological clock.

 

In their study that was participated by 39 volunteers, it showed that undergoing a one-hour flashlight therapy shifts a person’s body clock by about two hours.

 

Stuart Peirson, an expert in neuroscience at Oxford University, said: "It is great to see advances in this area being translated into effective treatments.

 

"Whilst drugs can be used to shift the clock, light is readily available and is what our bodies have evolved to respond to.

 

"I'm amazed that they got such a dramatic effect.

 

"You would normally have to sit in front of a light box for several hours to get an effect.

 

"The idea underlying this is certainly based on solid biology."