Viagra helps jet-lagged hamsters, maybe humans, too: study

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2007

WASHINGTON (AFP) — A shot of Viagra may one day help shift workers and flight crews recover their normal sleep cycles, according to a study on hamsters released Monday.

Viagra, otherwise known as sildenafil, could be "useful in other circadian disorders that involve poor synchronization with the environment, including delayed sleep-phase syndrome and adaptation to changing light schedules," said the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers at Argentina's National University at Quilmes in Buenos Aires injected male hamsters with small amounts of the drug and switched off the lights six hours earlier, which researchers compared with taking an eastbound flight, as would occur from the Americas to Europe.

Hamsters...