On Healthy Living

Traveling to exotic places is great–except when you first get there and collapse from exhaustion and jet lag. But you may be able to beat jet lag; you just have to skip eating before you leave home.

A new Harvard University study suggests that fasting may fight drowsiness.

Our bodies have two internal “clocks”–a body clock, which is sensitive to daylight, and a “feeding clock,” which keeps track of meal times.

Using mice, researchers altered a gene called BMAL1 that regulates the body clock. In one part of the experiment, they made the mice sleep, even through hunger–meaning unless woken, the mice could have starved to death.

More importantly, they discovered that the feeding clock could overpower the circadian clock, keeping mice up until they found something to nibble on.

Researchers say you can shift your body clock by changing your eating schedule. In particular, they say fasting can help with jet lag.

For an 11-hour time difference, “A period of fasting with no food at all for about 16 hours is enough to engage this new clock,” says lead researcher Clifford Saper. “Simply avoiding any food on the plane, and then eating as soon as you land, should help you to adjust and avoid some of the uncomfortable feelings of jet lag.”

Until time travel becomes reality or you can cross 10 time zones in an hour, it’s worth a try. We all know airport food is sub-par, anyway.

If you’re not traveling anytime soon, try this meal plan to eat right all day–no fasting required.

joseph Batugo wrote this on June 30th, 2008 and filed it under Healthy Living |