Now, Study Finds A Way To Reduce Jet Lag

Reducing oxygen levels in an aero plane cabin may help combat jet lag in travelers, suggests a new study which found that variation in oxygen levels can reset circadian clocks of mice and help them adapt eating, sleeping and running habits to the new time faster. Researchers studied that changing the concentration of oxygen in cells by just 3%, twice a day, will synchronize mouse cells to a circadian rhythm. They suspected protein HIF1a was the link between oxygen and the circadian clock because HIF1a plays both a role in oxygen homeostasis in cells. They found that cells with low HIF1a levels will not synchronize in response to oxygen variations. It was extremely exciting to see that even small changes in oxygen levels were sufficient to efficiently reset the circadian clock. Researchers further explored oxygen’s effect on circadian rhythms with jetlag experiments. Just like humans, mice are prone to jetlag. Mice were first left to eat, sleep and run on their wheels in air controlled environments. Altering oxygen levels alone did not change their circadian rhythms but once mice experienced a six hour jump ahead in daylight hours, varying oxygen levels could help them adapt their eating, sleeping and running habits to the new time faster.