Scientists develop flash light therapy to prevent jet lags

Anyone who’s travelled long distance knows the struggle of adapting to a new time zone. Fatigue and/or insomnia are amongst the most common symptoms and can often take up to a week to recover from. There are several theories and methods as to how to avoid the weary side effects of long-haul travelling, many of which usually don’t help much.

Scientists at Stanford university have now developped a new solution to avoid jet lags. Research conducted on 40 participants over the course of two weeks showed that being subjected to short flashes of light infact tricked their biological clock into thinking the day had started earlier. This falsely created break of dawn is said to match the sunrise at the travel destination and helps speed up the process of adapting to a new time zone. The main goal is avoiding the jet lag before it happens rather than curing it.

This new form of light therapy could also help shift workers such as nurses, doctors, truck-drivers etc. with irregular work patterns, to adjust to a sleeping rhythm.

Written by: Flight-Delayed