London - Scientists are a step closer to preventing jet lag. They have pinpointed a brain chemical that in high amounts appears to quickly reset the body clock.
Mice given a booster shot of the compound adjusted to a big time-shift twice as quickly as usual.
The vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, or VIP, chemical normally synchronises the 20 000 brain cells that make up the body’s masterclock, which uses light levels to tell the time and regulate sleep, metabolism and hormone production.
US researchers gave mice a jab of VIP before an eight-hour change in the normal onset of darkness. They adjusted to the new “time zone” in four days, compared with untreated animals who took eight days, the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports. - Daily Mail