Why jet lag from your cross-country flight may actually be good for you, study says

If you hate the feeling of jet lag after changing time zones, you should know that it might actually be good for you.

Specifically, it could be good for your brain, according to a new study from Northwestern University.

While studying fruit flies, researchers learned that jet lag may protect your brain from disease, according to a release from the Illinois university.

So, “while your body might bemoan the many uncomfortable effects of jet lag, your brain may be thanking you for that cross-time zone travel,” Northwestern University said.

To study this, the research team led by Ravi Allada altered the circadian rhythms of fruit flies in a Huntington’s disease model, the university said. Huntington’s disease causes nerve cells in the brain to break down, according to the Mayo Clinic.

“Circadian rhythms are physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a daily cycle,” according to the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. “Sleeping at night and being awake during the day is an example of a light-related circadian rhythm.”

In the first group of flies, their circadian rhythms were manipulated so that they had a 20-hour day instead of a 24-hour day, the university said. In the second group, a gene that controls the internal circadian clock was mutated.

“We essentially gave the flies jet lag for every day of their lives,” Allada said, according to the release. “It’s like traveling four hours east every day.”

Giving fruit flies jet lag sounds “odd,” the university said in a tweet, “but through this study they found that a little stress on your body’s circadian clock could protect the brain against neurodegenerative diseases.”

The team learned that the stress of jet lag could slow Huntington’s disease, as fewer neurons, or brain nerves, died in both groups of fruit flies, the university said.

“We thought that inhibiting this gene that helps your proteins fold properly would make things worse, but they got better,” Allada said in the release. “It again shows that a little bit of stress is probably good.”

This study has not been confirmed in human causes of jet lag, and “while fruit flies might seem completely different from humans, the neurons that govern flies’ sleep-wake cycles are strikingly similar to humans,” according to Allada and the university.

Fruit flies with the mutant Huntington’s gene show similar symptoms as humans with the neurodegenerative disease, the university said. Those symptoms include diseased proteins building up in the brain, motor deficits and a reduced lifespan.

This study on fruit flies and jet lag was published in the Cell Reports journal on April 2.

This story was originally published April 3, 2019 at 12:36 PM.