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Fasting May Fix Jet Lag

Posted by kdawson on from the lost-in-translation dept.

stoolpigeon writes "Reuters reports on a Harvard Medical School study on sleep patterns and how they relate to food. Researchers already knew that the sleep patterns of mice would change to match the opportunity to feed, but they did not know the mechanism that enabled the change. To find out, they looked for the part of the brain that was involved. They bred mice without a certain master gene that regulates the body's clock, and then targeted various parts of the brain with the gene, delivered in the shell of a virus. The results may, among other things, provide a new method for preparing to deal with jet lag: 'A period of fasting with no food at all for about 16 hours is enough to engage this [alternate body] clock,' the lead researcher said. The study appears in the journal Science."

10 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. Poor mice by futlib · · Score: 1, Funny

    Highly paid researchers torture mice for a living. It's kind of sad.

  2. Better idea, and requires no fasting by ciaohound · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... delivered in the shell of a virus.

    Surely that's a "treatment protocol" that airline food could handle...
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    Oh, yeah, it's not easy to pad these out to 120 characters.
  3. Next Ryan air Ad by poeidon1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Travel in Ryanair and we take care of your jetlag (by not feeding you)

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    They called me mad, and I called them mad, and damn them, they outvoted me. -Nathaniel Lee
  4. Comparative Importance by FurtiveGlancer · · Score: 1, Funny

    Of course, jet lag is much less of an issue WHEN YOU'RE STARVING!

    Oh well, so long as I can drink all I want....
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    Invenio via vel creo
    1. Re:Comparative Importance by FurtiveGlancer · · Score: 2, Funny

      Well, true enough, but the feebly attempted joke didn't have the same punch when I wrote REALLY HUNGRY.
      *SIGH* All the "funny" moderators must be at a picnic.

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      Invenio via vel creo
  5. Re:You don't REALLY care because ... by cp.tar · · Score: 3, Funny

    you're just mad you work at mcdonalds... serving mice.

    Are you talking about the food or the customers?

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    Ignore this signature. By order.
  6. Re:Is jetlag a /significant/ issue or just annoyin by GNUALMAFUERTE · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's easy, always travel west. The earth is round.

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    WTF am I doing replying to an AC at 5 A.M on a Friday night?
  7. Re:Another excuse for poor airline service ! by ozmanjusri · · Score: 4, Funny
    I read it as "Fisting May Fix Jet Lag".

    That would be about the only thing that could make the TSA a genuine public service.

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    "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
  8. Re:You don't REALLY care because ... by node+3 · · Score: 2, Funny

    you're just mad you work at mcdonalds... serving mice.

    Are you talking about the food or the customers?

    Probably the management.

  9. Re:You don't REALLY care because ... by cp.tar · · Score: 2, Funny

    you're just mad you work at mcdonalds... serving mice.

    Are you talking about the food or the customers?

    Probably the management.

    I think those mice are called rats.

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    Ignore this signature. By order.