Flying a plane and frequent changes of time zones causes not only memory disturbances, but also anatomical changes in the brain, reports the University of California, Berkeley on its website. Such conclusions were put forward by local scientists from studies conducted on female Syrian hamsters.
American psychologists, for 4 weeks, applied to animals twice a week, 6-hour time shifts, the equivalent of plane flights from New York to Paris. During the last two weeks after the trial and one month after its completion, they measured the learning abilities of hamsters and their memory.
As expected, animals with a disturbed biological clock had difficulty learning simple tasks during the course of the experiment. The researchers were surprised by the occurrence of these problems one month after the end of the experiment.
In addition, when researchers looked at hamster brains, they found changes, particularly in the hippocampus, a part of the brain that plays an important role in memory processes. Compared to animals in the control group, animals with disturbed biological clock had only half of the new neurons in the hippocampus.
For the first time, it was possible to conduct a controlled trial and check the impact of the jet lag syndrome on the brain and memory function – says Dr. Lance Kriegsfeld, a psychologist at UC Berkeley. Which means that whether someone is an airline crew member, a shift doctor, or a regular shift worker, repetitive circadian disturbances can have long-term effects on behavior and cognition.
Sudden time zone change syndrome is the result of crossing several time zones in a short period of time. Traveling eastward is the worst, when time suddenly speeds up. We all have an internal 24-hour clock that drives our circadian rhythm. When a person enters a time zone that is out of sync with his internal clock, it takes much longer to adjust to it, causing a sudden change of time zone syndrome until the body adjusts to the new rhythm.
The scientists used hamsters for their research because they are a classic model for studying the circadian rhythm. As Kriegsfeld points out, their biological clock is so precise that they either produce eggs or ovulate every 96 hours with an accuracy of a few minutes. (PAP)