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Fasting May Fix Jet Lag

Posted by kdawson on Mon May 26, 2008 07:08 AM
from the lost-in-translation dept.
Biotech Science
stoolpigeon writes "Reuters reports on a Harvard Medical School study on sleep patterns and how they relate to food. Researchers already knew that the sleep patterns of mice would change to match the opportunity to feed, but they did not know the mechanism that enabled the change. To find out, they looked for the part of the brain that was involved. They bred mice without a certain master gene that regulates the body's clock, and then targeted various parts of the brain with the gene, delivered in the shell of a virus. The results may, among other things, provide a new method for preparing to deal with jet lag: 'A period of fasting with no food at all for about 16 hours is enough to engage this [alternate body] clock,' the lead researcher said. The study appears in the journal Science."
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Submission: Fasting May Fix Jet Lag by stoolpigeon (454276)
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  • Don't let the airlines know about this, or they are going to 'improve the jetlag adaptation' by not feeding you anymore ! And for an additional price.

  • I've got a better idea. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by EWAdams (953502) on Monday May 26 2008, @07:17AM (#23543349) Homepage

    How about making the airplane seats big enough and comfortable enough to actually sleep in?

    Jet lag would be much less of a problem if the airlines didn't squash us all in like sardines for 13 hours at a time.

    • Re:I've got a better idea. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by allcar (1111567) on Monday May 26 2008, @07:21AM (#23543367)
      The airlines will happily give you more leg room. All you have to do is give them more money. It's called 1st class. If you like cheap flights, there's not much point in bitching about comfort.
      • Actually the really long haul flights (not sure about USA) I have found that the seat size is perfect.

        Eg, England -> Singapore / France -> Korea. Both cases the seats were fine, had your own TV/games console and could get up at any time and get more food/drink.

        It is the short flights (up to 5 hours) that steerage tended to be bad.

        Another thought is maybe you just need to loose weight. :)

        • Re:I've got a better idea. (Score:5, Insightful)

          by cheebie (459397) on Monday May 26 2008, @09:17AM (#23544199)

          Another thought is maybe you just need to loose weight. :)


          I have yet to find a diet that makes my legs shorter.

        • Re:I've got a better idea. (Score:5, Insightful)

          by jonwil (467024) on Monday May 26 2008, @09:38AM (#23544429)
          The real issue is which airline you are flying. Some are better than others. Unfortunatly, because national governments like to protect the dinosaur airlines from competition by better airlines (overseas carriers looking to enter the market, startups who think they can draw business away from the big boys), often the airlines that have the good stuff (better food, better seats, better entertainment etc) dont fly the route you want to fly.

          If aviation worldwide was deregulated and e.g. foreign airlines such as Singapore Airlines and QANTAS were allowed to fly domestic routes inside the US, the dinosaur airlines that offer the crappy service like United and American would have to get better or go bust.

          (disclaimer: I have never flown on any US carrier but I have read enough about how US carriers suck from people who have)

          • Re:I've got a better idea. (Score:5, Insightful)

            by Free the Cowards (1280296) on Monday May 26 2008, @09:56AM (#23544613)
            There's plenty of competition within the US as it is. You have to ask yourself why none of them have wised up and started offering better service. In fact the one that are doing the best tend to offer the worst amenities.

            The reason is that airline customers care about price above all else. I recall a study (no, I don't have a cite, sorry) where people would ignore significant differences in amenities for as little as a $5 difference in price.

            This is why service sucks everywhere. If an airline cuts food from a price and this allows them to undercut their competitor by some trivial amount, they get a significant influx of new customers. It becomes a race to the bottom, with costs cut on amenities everywhere to allow for reduced ticket prices.

            Because of this it's unlikely that Singapore Airlines or QANTAS would make much of a difference in the US market. They'd either have to do the same stuff in order to compete or they would get priced out of the market.

            • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

              by Anonymous Coward

              The reason is that airline customers care about price above all else. I recall a study (no, I don't have a cite, sorry) where people would ignore significant differences in amenities for as little as a $5 difference in price.

              People have become hyper-sensitive to price because airlines charge vastly different prices for the same service. You don't have to do much air travel before you have the experience of sitting next to a guy who paid half as much as you did.

            • But it's not like airlines really advertise amenities. When I search for a flight, I get a list of departure/arrival times and prices. Maybe I'll see what kind of plane I'm flying on so I can go to a third-party site [seatguru.com] to see which seats are good. United had some of their economy seats spaced out more for better leg room for a while, but I never saw anything about which flights had that and which didn't.

            • Amenities? (Score:4, Insightful)

              by mgkimsal2 (200677) on Monday May 26 2008, @11:08AM (#23545257) Homepage
              What are these magic amenities that will make a 4 hours flight with no leg room more bearable for an extra $5?

              People will save $5 on a flight choosing a cheaper one because in economy there's basically no difference. What are the amenities? Coke v Pepsi products? Seats without tears in them? New sickbag in every seat pocket?

              I'd *gladly* pay a smaller amount more for a bit more leg room. I'm not a big person (5'9") but am cramped in economy seats. But the only choice is biz and/or first class, often at 5-10x the price of the economy price. There's no middle ground, so people choose the cheapest economy they can.

              I went from RDU to SJC for about $230 last month. I could have paid up to $500 for the same trip on a different carrier, but still 'economy'. I've flown economy on all the major carriers at one point or another, and they all have the same size seats and basic service, so why pay double for the same thing?

              I almost tried JetBlue, but the scheduling wasn't even close to what I needed, so I'd have had to go the day before and get a hotel for another $200. Plus the JB ticket was $650 or so - close to 3x the price I paid. I've heard good things about JB, but not good enough to pay an extra $620 for my trip.

              If an airline would promote their 'amenities' for the extra few dollars, maybe I'd give it a try, but there's few amenities save legroom that can make a 5 hour trip worth any extra amount of money.
              • United is doing exactly what you're looking for. They call it Economy Plus. You get five inches more legroom than they usually give you, and of course charge you more money. I don't see United suddenly taking over the airline business.

                There's plenty of middle ground out there. Aside from United, the different airlines vary quite a bit in terms of how much room they give you. They may not advertise this fact strongly, and the various travel web sites may not make it easy to search for this, but it's not hard

            • Re:I've got a better idea. (Score:5, Interesting)

              by TheRedSeven (1234758) on Monday May 26 2008, @11:13AM (#23545293) Homepage
              This price competition is because of services like Priceline [priceline.com] and Kayak.com [kayak.com] that only allow you to compare based on price and time, and don't include any of the other amenities that carriers may/may not offer.
              If there are any enterprising developers out there, there may be a market for this...

    • Re: (Score:2, Redundant)

      by drsquare (530038)
      It's called 'first class'. Unless you have some magical technology which makes planes twice as big without increasing either the manufacturing or running costs.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by couchslug (175151)
      I just dropped a couple Dramamine before the flight and slept most of the way when I deployed.
      Think airline seats suck? Try webbing sling seats in a C141 (yes, I'm old) or other airlifter.
      Eating first kept me from waking up due to hunger.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Dun Malg (230075)

        Think airline seats suck? Try webbing sling seats in a C141 (yes, I'm old) or other airlifter.

        Heh. Yeesh. Thanks for reminding me. For those who have never had the joy, behold [att.net]. Imagine sitting like this, knees interlocked with the guy in front of you, for 18 hours, with your luggage on your lap! Nowadays those kids have it easy riding the C-17 [att.net]. I made sure to tell them that all the way to Kabul on my final deployment.

  • Jetlag has not proven to be a significant issue with me or any of the people I have travelled internationally (as in, more than 5 time zones in one go) with. Is it only a significant issue to those who are changing timezone on an almost daily basis?

    Typically if you're travelling west, you just get an hour's nap (or not) on the plane, but stay up an extra 5 - 8 hours or so (or less and go to bed a bit earlier). That's pretty easy to do. You will tend to wake up a little earlier than normal, but that's not a massive deal.

    Travelling east is more difficult, as going to sleep 5 - 8 hours earlier is usually impossible (or impractical if still travelling) so you need to stay up an extra 8 - 12 or so hours, go to bed early, and get extra sleep that night. In both cases, you wind up waking up at roughly a sensible time.

    Perhaps there is a significant group (who I do not travel with) who are unable to stay up for 28 hours on the odd occasion when it's necessary to resync with the local time zone? Or is it that if you do it, say, every week, this technique becomes totally impractical?
  • What a coincidence, I'm "suffering" from jet lag right now. I just got back (to the US) from Europe 2 days ago and am having the worst jet lag ever. This is weird because it's usually when I'm going in the other direction I suffer the worst. Anyway, if I eat I tend to want to "nap" right afterwards and then I end up sleeping in the middle of the day for 8 hours. Not eating seems to keep me awake, with my stomach threatening to eat itself.

  • Better idea, and requires no fasting (Score:4, Funny)

    by ciaohound (118419) on Monday May 26 2008, @07:24AM (#23543387)

    ... delivered in the shell of a virus.

    Surely that's a "treatment protocol" that airline food could handle...

  • Some people don't eat after 12 noon (Score:3, Interesting)

    by snsh (968808) on Monday May 26 2008, @07:28AM (#23543403)
    I went to this 'Vipassana' meditation camp a couple years ago. It's a program where you go to this silent retreat for 10 days and just sit all day and meditate. One of the things that freaks first-timers out is that they feed you breakfast and lunch, but no dinner. You don't eat at all after 12 noon.

    Sure, you're sitting all day and not expending much energy. But one thing you discover is how much better you sleep on an empty stomach.

    • Re:Some people don't eat after 12 noon (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 26 2008, @08:35AM (#23543865)
      Sometimes I skip dinner because I'm busy or whatever but I sleep like crap on those nights so I don't know what you are talking about. Usually I wake several times in the night because I'm hungry. That makes for a pretty rough night.

      I'm in good health, not overweight or any other problems like that.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by karmatic (776420)
      Sure, you're sitting all day and not expending much energy. But one thing you discover is how much better you sleep on an empty stomach.

      One man's meditation camp is another man's torture. I eat 4000-6000 calories per day, and cannot sleep while hungry. I'll typically have a nice large meal (a bunch of pasta, some veggies, fruit, some protein) around 2AM, and fall right asleep. If I don't eat, I can't sleep.

      And no, I'm not overweight - my BMI (or whatever the insurance companies use) is so low that I've b

  • Next Ryan air Ad (Score:4, Funny)

    by poeidon1 (767457) on Monday May 26 2008, @07:38AM (#23543459) Homepage
    Travel in Ryanair and we take care of your jetlag (by not feeding you)
  • The best way I've found to avoid jet lag is to force myself to sleep at what would be the appropriate time for the time zone I'm going to - usually Asia or back home to Toronto.

    6mg of Melatonin and a couple of beers in the airport bar are usually enough, but it doesn't hurt to have some soft music (I use "Music for the Mozart effect") and dark glasses (which don't look anywhere near as looserish as a sleep mask) to help with the process. If I do it right, I end up waking up at 7:00-8:00AM Hong Kong time at
  • I did a 2 week trip to China last year, the return flight's around 12 hours. I essentially ate when they came around with food, slept a whole lot, and found on my return that I was pretty much back to EDT. I went out for beer & pizza, went to bed at my usual time, and woke up the next day at a normal hour, and just got back into my normal routine right away. Same thing heading over, except the flight was split into 2 legs so took longer.

  • Old news (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 26 2008, @08:16AM (#23543721)
    ...this was the recommended method back in 1980 when I traveled the Atlantic on a monthly basis.

    1. Eat a regular meal (usually lunch or supper)
    2. Fly and fast
    3. Eat a meal at the next regular meal time. (Usually 10 to 12 hours later).
    4. One day later in the new time zone (GMT+1), all is reset.

    Worked like a charm and was based on research available at the time so I don't see what is so new about the advice.

  • Of course, jet lag is much less of an issue WHEN YOU'RE STARVING!

    Oh well, so long as I can drink all I want....
  • If anyone wants to investigate whether there is a similar link between sex starvation and jet lag, I could suggest a couple of married friends who'd be ideal candidates for the study.
  • I am willing to be a volunteer. I have jet lag every Monday morning.

    During the week I go to sleep at around 01:00 and wake up at around 07:30. During the weekend this is around 04:00 and 11:30. I am sure many people have such a "jet lag".

  • Most people are missing the main point here (Score:3, Interesting)

    by eniveld (1296009) on Monday May 26 2008, @09:32AM (#23544349)
    Judging from the replies, I think a lot of people are missing what they're saying in the referenced study: You start fast way *before* you get on the plane. Anyway, the reasoning behind why this works, is that your body thinks: "Hey, there's no food around. I better wake up Mr. Brain there to go find something to eat. And while you're at it, if you have to start hunting saber tooth tigers at night rather than day, then I'll reset your body clock so you sleep and wake at a different time."

  • A period of fasting with no food at all for about 16 hours

    Thank goodness we don't need to forgo the DRINKS (they help get over time zones too, you know).

  • Fasting BEFORE the flight (Score:5, Informative)

    by yelvington (8169) on Monday May 26 2008, @09:45AM (#23544501) Homepage
    Apparently in haste to make jokes about bad airplane food, most have missed the point that the article refers to fasting BEFORE the flight. The Reuters headline writer also missed that fact.

    The idea is to start pushing your food cycle toward the target before you fly so your body is more receptive to the time change.

    In fact, if you're taking the typical ATL-ICN-HKG route some airplane dining is going to be pretty important. You'll arrive in Hong Kong around 10 p.m. Your elapsed clock time including layover will be nearly 24 hours, and if you manage your eating and sleeping during that time you'll actually be in pretty good shape the morning after your arrival. (Hint: Sleep as much as possible between ATL and mid-Pacific, and only after that should you turn on the entertainment system.)

    Another study suggests [bbc.co.uk] that Viagra might help with jet lag, but it might create unrelated issues that you might have trouble explaining.

    • Re:Fasting BEFORE the flight (Score:4, Informative)

      by TheWizardOfCheese (256968) on Monday May 26 2008, @03:15PM (#23547913)
      Exactly. The procedure suggested by the researchers is:

      1. Start with the day you will arrive in your final time zone.
      2. Count back 16 hours from your normal breakfast time on that day, and stop eating from that point.
      3. At your normal breakfast time on the final day, eat a substantial, nutritious, meal

      Note that this means you may have to eat your breakfast on a plane or in an airport, and it may not be your normal breakfast time in the local timezone when you eat breakfast. You are supposed to eat substantial real food, not coffee and a pastry, so you may have to expend some effort and foresight to ensure that such food is available when you are supposed to eat it.
  • 16 hours before the flight? 16 hours before you land? When do you start eating again?

  • Melatonin? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by vorpal^ (114901) on Monday May 26 2008, @03:03PM (#23547817) Homepage Journal
    Heading east from Hawaii to go back home to Toronto (+6), I just took 6 mg of melatonin at 6 PM HT / 12 AM EDT when I got on the the flight. By 7 PM HT / 1 AM EDT, I was sound asleep, and I woke up around 2 AM HT / 8 AM EDT, fully back on my regular Toronto routine with no detriments.

    I don't know if this would work well with more dramatic time shifts, like Asia - North America, but melatonin in general has been a sanity saver for me. There are days where I take a four hour nap and fear that I'll never sleep at night. Pop a melatonin an hour before I want to go to bed, and I sleep a completely normal night's sleep.

    No uncomfortable fasting required.

    • Just in college? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      It isn't just a college thing - think about all the people (and the current poll) who are 'late' risers... I wonder what the correlation is between late risers and eating shortly after rising...

      I mean, if you dont eat breakfast, then you start at lunch, then dinner then snacks... eventually you'll stop waking up around breakfast time (according to this article).

      Irregular eating patterns also make you fat, I've heard - I wonder what the correlation between late risers and obesity is?
      • I suck at mornings, but I'm certainly not fat either :) I did start eating breakfast again a few months ago, though I eat it after I get to work rather than before. I hardly ever 'snack' but I do have food quite late in the evenings sometimes.

        Come to think of it, the summer when I was best at getting up early for work, was a time when I used to have breakfast (porridge at the time) at home.. interesting. Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day!?

      • Should computer simulations ever reach the point that we can model all of the biological effects of a treatment, they would provide a useful alternative to mice or other animals. Until then, we really have no choice. We can try things out on isolated tissue, but there's no substitute for in vivo studies.

        By that point, the simulations may as well be living organisms themselves, but I won't go there...

        • Re:Poor mice (Score:4, Informative)

          by PC and Sony Fanboy (1248258) on Monday May 26 2008, @08:16AM (#23543715) Journal
          Actually, yes they do.
          Just like people die of smoking - the smoking doesn't kill them, but the effects of smoking do.

          We could look at the dangerous effects of jet lag here... [mos.org]
          And we can look at a bit of an unconfirmed urban legend here [kottke.org](but also not disproven, I just can't find an original article)...

          And we can see the long term effects of jetlag (Thanks to mice... Surprisingly... NOT) here [virginia.edu]...

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