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Vacations are for fun, family, and sightseeing. When traveling to a new country, there is so much to see and do. Nobody wants to spend their whole trip sleeping or feeling exhausted. Luckily, there are ways to banish the ZZZs and make the most of your travel.
Now, new research suggests an innovative jet lag solution that is all-natural, healthy, and keeps you awake and moving. The study from Arizona State University in Phoenix,links exercise with the body’s circadian rhythm, opening the possibility of treating jet lag with a workout.
The biological basis of jet lag
The body’s circadian rhythm, otherwise known as the body’s internal clock, is the daily cycle of physical and biological processes. Both traveling to a different time zone, and staying up in the night, can wreak havoc on the circadian clock, including causing the body to secrete the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin at time when people want to stay awake.
Dr Amy Bender, director of clinical sleep science at Cerebra, told Well+Good how an out-of-sync circadian rhythm causes jet lag, “When the internal master clock isn’t aligned with the external clock of your destination, it creates a mismatch of all your bodily rhythms,” she explains. “That’s what lies at the heart of jet lag.”
Exercise can shift your internal clock
The researchers of the study used the level of melatonin secreted by the body to explore the effects of exercise on circadian rhythm, reported Medical News Today. First, researchers took urine samples from 99 participants, every 90 minutes throughout the day, to measure the baseline rise and fall of their melatonin levels.
Next, these participants were asked to complete an hour of aerobic exercise on the treadmill for three days in a row, at different times of the day. During the course of the study the levels of melatonin they secreted were measured as well. The researchers noted shifts in the melatonin levels of participants from the baseline, correlated with their activity level.
The study uncovered that when participants did their hour-long workouts at seven in the morning, or between one and four pm in the afternoon, their internal clocks shifted forwards. Exercising in the evening, between seven and 10 pm shifted the circadian rhythm backwards.
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Shawn Youngstedt, who led the study, explained to Medical News Today, “This is the first study to compare exercise’s effects on the body clock, and could open up the possibility of using exercise to help counter the negative effects of jet lag and shift work.”
How you can reap these benefits
According to Well+Good, when traveling, taking advantage of an evening workout, between seven to 10 pm, that shifts circadian cycles backwards, could counteract the time zone shift during west to east travels. On the other hand, when traveling east to west, working out in the morning (at seven am) or the afternoon (between one to four pm) may provide the maximum wakefulness and melatonin-reduction benefits.
Andrew Barr, the owner of Quantum Performance and a consultant for the Brooklyn Nets basketball team, told Well+Good, “You want to scale back the intensity of the exercise to a lower or moderate, because you want to limit additional stressors. Think: A brisk walk, gentle yoga session, or maybe a bike ride,” he shares. According to Barr, as you acclimate to the new time zone, and your internal clock resyncs, you can increase the intensity of the workout.
Exercise pushes your internal clock forward or backwards by regulating the amount of melatonin your body secretes. Walking or cycling are great ways to see the sites, when traveling, while getting jet-lag busting exercise. So next time you travel, don't forget to pack your sneakers!
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