If you're planning a trip this summer to a different time zone, expect some jet lag. New research suggests jet lag isn't something you can just shake off because it's all about biology.
Travelers know that feeling of exhaustion, when you're internal clock seems out of sync.
"Jet lag essentially mixes up your circadian rhythms which include your body temperatures, secretion of steroids and the timing of your sleep. It makes you feel awful," says sleep specialist Dr. Ralph Pascualy.
Researchers exposed rats to different light-dark schedules and monitored their brain activity. They wanted to track dream, or R-E-M sleep, in rats with jet lag. "Of course, we didn't fly the rats from Paris to New York, but we switched the light dark schedule abruptly for six hours which is essentially what happens to you when you're traveling very quickly in a jet say from Paris to New York," says researcher Dr. Horacio de la Igleaia.
Jet lag disrupted the rats internal clocks in two neural centers of the brain. The cells associated with deep sleep adapted to the new schedule immediately. But neurons timing R-E-M sleep needed six to eight days to catch up. "If you imagine yourself traveling from paris to new york, you may be able to get a good night of sleep, however, the quality of that sleep may not be optimal," says Dr. de la Iglesia.
"We knew that this phenomenon happened. That R-E-M and non R-E-M sleep shifted differentially, but we didn't know the biology of it and how that happened," says Dr. Pascualy.
Findings will lead to better treatments and new medicine for jet lagged travelers. The best advice for now researchers say, is to give your body one day to adapt for every hour you delay or advance across time zones.
