Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Beat jet lag by overriding sleep clock with food clock

It takes about 16 hours of fasting to engage the food clock.

However, when they restored the gene [BMAL1] only in a section of the hypothalamus called the dorsomedial nucleus, which helps organize waking and feeding schedules, the mice adjusted to the eating schedule, but not daylight.
Saper said when food is scarce, this second clock can override the body's primary clock. He said these same clock genes are known to be in all mammals, including humans.
There's also this meal-synchronizing diet for the four days before arrival (protein for being awake). I've personally not had problems after trying to sync sleep a day before, forcing myself to stay up when I would be up at the destination.

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