Viagra 'could help jet lag'
Updated on 22 May 2007
Viagra could be used to help people recover from jet lag, animal research has suggested.
The anti-impotence drug helped hamsters recover up to 50 per cent faster from upset to their internal body clock.
Researchers believe it could benefit some air passengers on overnight flights in the same way and could even help relieve tiredness in shift workers.
Viagra interferes with an enzyme that lowers levels of a naturally-occurring compound that helps regulate the body's internal clock, the researchers said.
However, the drug only worked in conjunction with light therapy, and only in one time direction - the equivalent to flying eastbound, the team of Argentine scientists found.
Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers concluded: "Shift work and chronic jet-lag reduce mental acuity and increase the risk of a number of medical problems."
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