Jet Lag News and Research

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Jet lag, medically referred to as "desynchronosis," is a physiological condition which is a consequence of alterations to circadian rhythms; it is classified as one of the circadian rhythm sleep disorders.

Research findings may pave way for miracle drug to treat narcolepsy

Narcolepsy, a serious sleep disorder in which patients often fall asleep uncontrollably, has been incurable because no effective therapeutic agents are available to date. Recent findings by Japanese scientists in the sleep institute may shed light on this challenging problem.

30 May 2017

Are we sleeping less than we used to?

There's no solid evidence that we sleep fewer hours today than we ever did, this is something I have gone into large amounts of detail in my book, in my published papers and at a recent meeting at the Royal Society of Medicine.

6 Apr 2017

Sleep restriction linked to reduced levels of bone formation marker

Insufficient sleep, a common problem that has been linked to chronic disease risk, might also be an unrecognized risk factor for bone loss. Results of a new study will be presented Saturday at the Endocrine Society's 99th annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.

3 Apr 2017

Delaying school start times unlikely to reduce sleep deprivation in teenagers, research finds

Delaying school start times in the UK is unlikely to reduce sleep deprivation in teenagers, research from the University of Surrey and Harvard Medical School has found.

28 Mar 2017

Young researchers explore impact of prolonged Zika viremia in pregnant women, fetuses and infants

A Maryland woman traveled to the Dominican Republic early in her pregnancy, spending three weeks with family. She felt dizzy and tired and, at first, attributed the lethargy to jet lag.

16 Mar 2017

Melatonin content of dietary supplements shows wide variability, study finds

A new study suggests that the melatonin content of dietary supplements often varies widely from what is listed on the label.

14 Feb 2017

New study shows how jet lag affects performance of MLB players traveling across few time zones

Major League Baseball managers trying to find an edge should pay close attention to their players' body clocks, according to a new Northwestern University study of how jet lag affects MLB players traveling across just a few time zones.

24 Jan 2017

Physician explains how poor or low-quality sleep hinders common resolutions

Making New Year's resolutions is easy. Keeping them — beyond a couple of weeks, at least — is tough.

20 Jan 2017

Johns Hopkins scientists find link between sleep/wake cycles and core body temperature

A clump of just a few thousand brain cells, no bigger than a mustard seed, controls the daily ebb and flow of most bodily processes in mammals -- sleep/wake cycles, most notably.

23 Dec 2016

TSRI study reveals how circadian clocks may influence cancer growth

A new study led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute describes an unexpected role for proteins involved with our daily "circadian" clocks in influencing cancer growth.

16 Nov 2016

Researchers identify mechanism of how circadian clocks in neurons encode daily rhythms of excitability

Molecular clocks in cells throughout the body control many physiologic changes in a 24-hour day/night circadian rhythm -- among them the timing of sleep and wakefulness.

14 Nov 2016

Study provides insight into how the brain's biological clock regulates physiological function

The brain's biological clock stimulates thirst in the hours before sleep, according to a study published in the journal Nature by McGill University researchers.

6 Oct 2016

Regulating mealtimes during days off can help alleviate jet-lag in long-haul cabin crew

A study published today in the journal Psychology and Health has found that jet-lag in long-haul cabin crew is alleviated when meal times are regulated on their days off.

6 Oct 2016

Shift work alters internal body clock and leads to strokes, serious brain implications

Statistics show that some 15 million Americans don't work the typical nine-to-five. These employees (or shift workers), who punch in for graveyard or rotating shifts, are more prone to numerous health hazards, from heart attacks to obesity, and now, new research, published in Endocrinology, shows shift work may also have serious implications for the brain.

2 Jun 2016

Salk scientists discover REV-ERBα protein that controls strength of circadian rhythm

At noon every day, levels of genes and proteins throughout your body are drastically different than they are at midnight. Disruptions to this 24-hour cycle of physiological activity are why jet lag or a bad night's sleep can alter your appetite and sleep patterns for days--and even contribute to conditions like heart disease, sleep disorders and cancers.

27 May 2016

Sleep hormone melatonin may be responsible for type 2 diabetes risk among overnight workers

A new experimental and clinical study from Lund University in Sweden shows that the sleep hormone melatonin impairs insulin secretion in people with a common gene variant.

13 May 2016

Working in night shifts may increase risk of coronary heart disease

Working at night is unhealthy for the heart and increases the risk of sustaining coronary heart disease, meaning a disease of the coronary arteries. This is the result of a current, and one of the largest American cooperation studies under the management of Eva Schernhammer of the epidemiology division of MedUni Wien, which was published in the top journal JAMA today. First author is Celine Vetter of Harvard University in Boston.

27 Apr 2016

Scientists identify key pathway that regulates 'switch' between wakefulness and sleep

Falling asleep and waking up are key transitions in everyone's day. Millions of people have trouble with these transitions - they find it hard to fall asleep or stay asleep at night, and hard to stay awake during the day. Despite decades of research, how these transitions work - the neurobiological mechanics of our circadian rhythm - has remained largely a mystery to brain scientists.

16 Apr 2016

Springing forward one hour may lead to increased heart attack risk

Many people may groan about losing an hour of sleep March 13, but there may be a more serious reason to be mindful of daylight saving time.

11 Mar 2016

Human body clock study paves way for drug treatment of osteoarthritis

A University of Manchester biologist has for the first time established that the painful and debilitating symptoms endured by osteoarthritis sufferers are intrinsically linked to the human body clock.

15 Dec 2015