A fast cure for jet lag

Muscle & Fitness, July, 2009 by Jim Stoppani, Mark Thorpe

Jet lag can be a nasty side effect of a great trip, and it can toy with your sleep cycle for up to a week on either end. Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston) have discovered a way to beat jet lag in about 24 hours. It just requires a quick fast--that's right, no food for a day.

The research team reported their discovery of a "food-related clock" that can supersede the light-based master clock that serves as the body's primary timekeeper in a 2008 issue of the journal Science. It works like this: A group of cells in the brain's hypothalamus known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) serve as the body's primary biological clock. The SCN receives signals about the light-dark cycle from the eyes and passes that info to a group of cells in the hypothalamus known, as the dorsomedial nucleus, which organizes the sleep-wake cycles in addition to cycles of feeding, activities and even hormones.

The researchers discovered that a single 24-hour cycle of fasting followed by refeeding turns on the clock so that it basically overrides the SCN and resets the body's circadian rhythms based on when you eat. So the next time you have a long trip planned, fast for 16-24 hours, then start eating again based on the new time zone. It's not ideal, but neither is a week of lethargy.

EDITED BY JIM STOPPANI, PHD, AND MARK THORPE