Brave Syrian hamsters are helping to save the lives of the jet-setting readers of Banker Middle East. Mike Gallagher takes a closer look
Every banker knows that few things are more damaging than turning up at a crucial meeting while still horribly jet lagged. Executive travel may be offering more luxurious ways of getting around than ever, but the ultimate cure for jet lag (or desynchronosis as doctors call it) is still light years away.
When it comes to recovering, the general theory is that at least one day per time zone is required. Imagine how many days the average jet-setting chief executive would lose in a given year?
Several high flying (no pun intended) careers have been ruined after certain individuals turned up for meetings or conferences appearing to be in a state of intoxication (i.e. drunk or stoned), whereas in fact they were exhibiting the classic signs of acute sleep deprivation.
A number of academic studies have suggested that being awake for 16-21+ hours is equivalent to having a blood alcohol content of anywhere between 0.5 and 0.8 per cent, which would put them well over the legal limit in most industrialised countries.
There was something of a buzz doing the rounds of airport pharmacies that NUVIGIL, a drug which was being developed by Cephalon, might get US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. However, the FDA nixed the application, leaving weary travelers hoping that Vyvanse, which is being touted by Shire as a possible solution to what is also known as EDS, or Excessive Daytime Sleepiness, could help travellers stay coherent.
The globalised world has meant that there are hordes of chief executives stumbling around airports all over the world as they endeavour to make new deals and expand their business footprint. However, all that travel may be killing the top talent. Fears of deep vein thrombosis (another possibly lethal travel-related condition) made headlines during the past 10 years and nowadays virtually every airline's seat pocket has a small card/video demonstrating to passengers how to avoid becoming a victim.
Research by University of California, Berkeley, psychologists has shown that chronic jet lag alters the brain in ways that cause memory and learning problems long after one's return to a regular 24-hour schedule.
Twice a week for four weeks, the researchers subjected female Syrian hamsters to six-hour time shifts - the equivalent of a New York-to-Paris airplane flight. During the last two weeks of jet lag and a month after recovery from it, the hamsters' performance on learning and memory tasks was measured.
As expected, during the jet lag period, the hamsters had trouble learning simple tasks that the hamsters in the control group aced. What surprised the researchers was that these deficits persisted for a month after the hamsters returned to a regular day-night schedule.
What's more, the researchers discovered persistent changes in the brain, specifically within the hippocampus, a part of the brain that plays an intricate role in memory processing. They found that, compared to the hamsters in the control group, the jet-lagged hamsters had only half the number of new neurons in the hippocampus following the month long exposure to jet lag.
"This is the first time anyone has done a controlled trial of the effects of jet lag on brain and memory function, and not only do we find that cognitive function is impaired during the jet lag, but we see an impact up to a month afterward," said Lance Kriegsfeld, UC Berkeley Associate Professor of Psychology and a member of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute.
"What this says is that, whether you are a flight attendant, medical resident, or rotating shift worker, repeated disruption of circadian rhythms is likely going to have a long-term impact on your cognitive behaviour and function."
Kriegsfeld, graduate student Erin Gibson and their colleagues reported their findings in the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE.
Flight attendants and rotating shift workers - people who regularly alternate between day and night shifts - have been found to have learning and memory problems, decreased reaction times, higher incidences of diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and cancer, and reduced fertility. The World Health Organisation lists shift work as a carcinogen.
"The evidence is overwhelming that disruptions in circadian timing have a direct impact on human health and disease," Kriegsfeld said. "We've now shown that the effects are long-lasting, not only to brain function, but likely to brain structure."
This acute disruption of circadian rhythms can cause general malaise as well as gastrointestinal problems because the body's hunger cycle is out of sync with meal times, Kriegsfeld said.
However, studies have shown that too much sleep can be as debilitating if not more so, than too little.
A 2006 study by the University of Colorado at Boulder showed that people who come round after eight hours of sound sleep "have more impaired thinking and memory skills than they do after being deprived of sleep for more than 24 hours."
CU-Boulder Assistant Professor Kenneth Wright said the grogginess and inability to think clearly immediately after waking up is called sleepinertia, and added that the effects of sleep inertia can be as bad or worse than being legally drunk.
One way to reduce the possibility of such occurrences may be to hold as many meetings online as possible. However, that way does not work in
places like the Middle East where most bankers believe that the human
presence is still the preferred method of doing business, even if the airborne lifestyle and long hours may be shortening their lifespans.
© Banker Middle East 2011
