Have you ever travelled over seas, or across the country, and weren't able to get the most out of your trip due to jet lag? Or upon returning home you just want to sleep all day due to jet lag? I went to Australia two summers ago and on the way there I adjusted quite nicely, but on the way back...the next few days were miserable.
Kyoto University in Japan has been doing research involving the circadian clock. The circadian clock or the circadian rhythm, the internal clock of the body, inside mammals is maintained by a a group of neurons called the suprachiasmatic nucleus. These neurons release a chemical called vasopressin, and the researchers at Kyoto University decided to play around with this chemical. Using mice they were able to stop cells from reacting with this chemical and discovered that the mice, when exposed to conditions that made it seem like they were 8 hours ahead of time, recovered and adjusted to their new time cycle much faster than the normal mice. The deactivation of this chemical prevented the mice from having jet lag. Read more here.
This discovery has its benefits for sure. Traveling over seas or even across the country could go much smoother if you could adjust to the time change quickly. It would also be beneficial to those who travel overseas often for work. I have had plenty of friends with parents who have work over seas for a week or two and having to attend meetings while adjusting to the time change cannot be fun. Yes, you can drink coffee to make it through those meetings, but adjusting to the time change and caffeine boosts are two different things. Would you want to take a drug that affects the one thing that regulates your internal clock? Of course, with the amount of overtime people put in at work, or late nights student's put into school, who's internal clock is only affected by the changing from night to day? We've all forced ourselves to ignore or even temporarily change the working of our internal clock.
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ReplyDeleteI feel personally concerned with this. I can't stay in the same country for more than 6 months! yea I experienced this when I came from the middle east. We had 8 extra hours in Beirut as opposed to Houston. If it's 12 pm in Houston, its 8 pm in Beirut. it was pretty awful. Unfortunately, I am not the kind of people who sleeps during the flight especially when it get shaky. Anyways I'd like to this drug coming. I will abuse it!
ReplyDeleteSo having traveled a lot you would take this drug, interesting! How long does it take for you to get use to the time change? Does not sleeping on the plane help? sometimes it's best to push through the plane ride and stay awake so you can acclimate faster.
DeleteWell very long time. (like 3 weeks or so). Sleeping during the flight is not possible for me even if it is, it won't help me getting used to the new time. Usually when I get from a long trip (15+hours flight) I fade away quickly once I get to a bed. I usually get to Houston at like 9pm, even though I sleep during night hours (for the new country), it wont help regulating the so called internal clock. I just sleep because im tired not because im supposed to, so I randomly wake up at night because my body got the needed rest and it is not the sleeping hours it used to have. Its like you taking a run, you then take a nap because you are tired but it wont affect your regular sleep hours. I came once to USA for 5 days and I spent most of them sleeping. I didn't accomplish half the things I wanted to do. it was lame lol. Hope I answered your questions :)
DeleteI would be weary of taking it without knowing the side effects. I hate having jet lag, but this would just make me nervous to take.
ReplyDeleteI do remember a time i fell asleep in a pizza due to jet lag. I would not mind if a drug would come out to help but would it hurt more then help? It would be good, untill that one person decided to abuse it and cause more problems. All I know how to help jet lag is push through it.
ReplyDeleteIf this drug is possible, I am sure it would be taken very often like pills that help people stay awake or go to sleep. My only concern is, is there a way to "overdose"? For example, people do not think the idea of overdosing on birth control is possible, but it really is. Symptoms that I remember reading about refer to constant bleeding, vomiting and nausea. Too much of the hormone makes a person think their pregnant, at lease that is what I interpreted from the symptoms.
ReplyDeleteSo, is it possible that one can overdose on this drug, thus making hallucinations or something? Maybe giving the person a sense of being in the future or coming from the past. Haha, I just made that up, but really, that would be insane!
The article mentioned people abusing it, but it didn't go into much detail, of course it's a new drug idea and not much is known. You're idea of hallucinations as a side effect of overdosing aren't over the top though, a lack of sleep will do that!
DeleteJet lag is never fun! When I went to Japan I swear it took me weeks to get back to normal! But I'm not sure how I would feel about using a drug to manipulate my circadian clock.I'm curious if there would be any long-term effects.
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