Recent Study Suggests Viagra Could Be the Answer to Jet Lag

According to a Dec. 2 press release, a recent study in London, England, found that Viagra may neutralize the effects of jet lag by helping the body reset its internal clock.

In a laboratory test, researchers injected hamsters with Viagra and then subjected them to bright lights for 6 hours, simulating a time change equivalent to traveling from west to east. The experiment found that the injected hamsters improved in coping with the simulated time difference by 25 to 50 percent compared to the hamsters that were not injected with Viagra.

The Flight Health website describes jet lag as occurring when a person's internal clock gets out of sync with the external environment, such as occurs when a person flies across several time zones. Often called the body clock, a person's internal clock is the part of the brain that controls the circadian rhythms, or the biological functions that are responsible for helping us sleep at night and wake up in the morning.

When a person travels across several time zones, the body clock gets out of sync and experiences daylight and darkness contrary to the rhythms it's used to. Because the body can't automatically realign these rhythms, jet lag sets in.

Unlike erectile dysfunction, little is heard about jet lag, the bane of virtually every long-distance flier. But like erectile dysfunction, jet lag is a health issue. Those who fly often and suffer frequent jet lag know how debilitating it can be. Jet lag sufferers experience everything from mild headaches, irritability and nausea to sleep disorders, memory loss, impaired judgment and stress. According to the No More Jet Lag website, even Henry Kissinger suffered from jet lag and reportedly said he would've made some important cold war decisions differently had he not been "under the influence" of jet lag when he made those decisions.

So where does Viagra come in? It may be the only effective treatment for some sufferers. Currently, there is nothing that works the same for everyone, and jet lag sufferers have tried any number of treatments, including expensive gadgets, vitamins, meditation and self-hypnosis.

Viagra was developed in 1991 for use in the treatment of heart problems such as angina and high blood pressure. Viagra causes a reduction of cyclic glutamine momophosphate (cGMP), a chemical that dilates blood vessels and relaxes muscles. This chemical is also responsible for dilating the blood vessels and relaxing the muscles of the penis, thus Viagra's use for erectile dysfunction. The FDA approved it as a treatment for erectile dysfunction in 1998.

As it relates to jet lag, cGMP also acts in a person's brain to regulate the circadian rhythms -- in this case, the sleep/wake cycle.

Sources:

Press release, Can Viagra be Called one of the Cures to the Common Jetlag?; http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/12/prweb573375.htm

Flight Health; http://www.flighthealth.org/causes-of-jet-lag.htm

No More Jet Lag; http://nomore-jetlag.com/index.html