Drug Treatment for Jet Lag

Jet lag is the bane of long distance travellers across the world, particularly those who travel frequently across multiple time zones. The condition is very much a product of modern air travel, the only means by which we can cross multiple time zones quickly enough to experience changes in the day-night cycle that trigger jet lag.

Because of how big air travel is in the modern world, be it for pleasure or business, there is definitely a need for effective medicinal solutions to the condition. Particularly now that some researchers have linked frequent jet lag to potential long term health issues, it is important that effective therapies that prevent the onset of jet lag be developed. Fortunately one such drug has been on the market for a few years now, and in this article we look at how you can treat jet lag through the simple application of medicinal melatonin.


Medicinal jet lag treatment

Medicinal jet lag treatment is administered through the provision of an artificial version of a potent natural hormone: melatonin. Melatonin is an important signalling hormone whose levels dictate a number of different and important physiological functions. One of its important roles is the regulation of our natural body clock, a system of light sensitive hormones which entrain our bodies to the natural day/night cycle of our environment.

It is disruptions in these hormones which cause jet lag, and so it is natural to use these compounds to adjust our body clock, also known as the circadian rhythm, in such a manner that we avoid the adverse effects of jet lag.

Melatonin can be found most abundantly in our systems at night, and its presence declines steadily throughout the day. This cyclical release tells our body when it is time to go to bed, and when it is time to go to sleep, and is ultimately dependent on our exposure to light. By using artificial melatonin as a drug, we can readjust our natural rhythms so that they are closer to the schedule of our destination, preventing the hormonal changes that lead to jet lag and its symptoms.

Using medicinal melatonin is very much like manually adjusting a wrist watch or clock, and doing so is an effective way of preventing jet lag all together, or at the very least, avoiding the worst of its symptoms. There are naturally alternatives, and many of these involve changes to your behaviour which can be performed alongside the usage of melatonin for the best effects.

« Preventing Jet lag Jet Lag and Babies »