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Jet Lag May Affect Your Brain |
June 15, 2001
One thing you probably have come to expect from air travel is bad food. One thing you DON'T expect is brain
damage! Dr. Kwangwook Cho of the Department of Anatomy at the University of Bristol studied two groups of female flight attendants who were between 22 and 28 years old, were college graduates and had five years of flight experience. The only difference between groups was the amount of time the attendants were permitted to rest between flights across at least seven time zones. The "short-recovery crew" had only 5 days between flights; the "long-recovery crew" had at least 14 days between flights. During the jet lag recovery, the long-recovery crew flew on shorter flights that did not have large time shifts. Therefore, both groups flew about the same amount.
These data suggest that chronic shifting of sleep cycles, without sufficient time to recover, may have a damaging effect on the brain. This may have serious implications for people in the travel industry (flight attendants and pilots), shift workers, and parents with young children. It is unknown if the damage to the temporal lobe is permanent or if sufficient rest can reverse these changes. |
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