Oxygen Deprivation Helps You Cope with Jet Lag

Oxygen deprivation could help both mice and humans cope with jet lag.

(Mirror Daily, United States) Lab tests offered specialists a new cure for jet lag, namely oxygen deprivation. As weird as it may sound, the method worked just well in mice. Doctors know how tiring and unpleasant long journeys and change in timetable can be, so they suggest that this is a good method to treat and fight jet lag.

Researchers in Israel and the United Kingdom were in charge of the new study. They observed the differences between mice which were breathing the proper amount of oxygen and mice which were living on a reduced quantity. According to the new study, the mice in the latter category could cope with timetable change much better.

The mice which were deprived of the proper amount of oxygen turned out to accept a difference of six hours between different life rhythms. The specialists noted that their adaptation occurred earlier than that of the mice which didn’t experience oxygen deprivation.

Being able to cope with jet lag is related to our circadian rhythm. This system is also referred to as our internal or biological clock, and it is closely related to the twenty-four hours cycle of night and day. Our organism is used to a particular sleep and activity pattern, and when this pattern is broken, it affects our concentration and even our state of mind.

The circadian cycle also makes it possible for our organism to save energy when we are sleeping. This means that we are regulating our body temperature, because it is higher when we are active, and lower when we are resting. The researchers observed that oxygen is also involved in these processes, as well as in the process of eating.

Researchers intended to find out more about oxygen and oxygen deprivation, so they used cell samples from mice. They exposed the cells to environments which featured different amounts of oxygen for twenty-four hours. Twenty-one percent of the amount of air that mice breath in is oxygen, but for the experiment, the ratio was lowered to eight percent.

The scientists observed that, while exposed to the environment featuring eight percent oxygen, the mice cells could adapt their rhythm to the new living conditions. The next step of the project was for the scientists to simulate a six-hour difference in the timetable, which is similar to a flight from Chicago to London.

The results showed that the mice could adapt to the new conditions, and those that received less oxygen than usual did it better. The mice have been experiencing similar effects to those of jet lag. They also need the same amount of oxygen like humans, and this is why scientists believe that the same method can turn out to be effective with us too.

The new study was published earlier this week in Cell Metabolism.

Image courtesy of: Pexels

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Tara Hamilton

Tara has graduated from the University of Oregon, with bachelors degree in Spanish Literature in 2010. She lived in Miami for one year and travelled extensively before settling down in El Paso.