WAKE up to this: a new treatment for jet lag may be within reach.
Elizabeth Klerman of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and researchers from Vanda Pharmaceuticals in Rockville, Maryland, disrupted the sleep of 411 volunteers, to mimic flying into a time zone 5 hours ahead. Those who took tasimelteon, a drug made by Vanda, took on average 8 to 11 minutes to fall asleep, compared with 22 minutes for those who took a placebo, and slept up to 10 per cent longer (The Lancet, DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61812-7).
Tasimelteon likely boosts the effect of melatonin, a…
