Holiday Travel and Forgetful! New Research Shows Why

Holiday Travel and Forgetful! New Research Shows Why

Twice a week for four weeks, researchers at UC Berkeley subjected female hamsters to six-hour time shifts, similar to flying across the Atlantic, or changing a shift schedule; the results of learning ability for the next month were decreased.

It is well known that chronic jet lag can alter the brain activity in humans for several days after a long trip, however new research is showing that the actual cognitive abilities and learning might be altered for as long as one month after the trip has finished.

At the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at UC Berkeley researchers decided to test the well known hypothesis that jet lag can alter learning, what they didn't know, was that by following the hamsters they did the tests on for another 30 days was that they would see persistent changes in brain activity that also correlated with decreased learning.

Specifically the researchers found changes in a part of the brain called the hippocampus, a part of the brain that plays a large role in memory. In the hamsters that were subjected to a six-hour time shift new neuron development was cut in half for the next month. According to Dr. Lance Kriegsfeld, new neurons are continuously being added to the adult hippocampus and are thought to be important for hippocampal dependent learning in adults. For example, memory problems in adults are associated with a drop in new neuron hippocampal development.

This research, on the long-term slowing of hippocampal development, is the first of its kind to show that a simple 6 hour time shift in a persons daily pattern. A phenomenon that is experienced by travelers, shift employees, and especially flight attendants, can have measurably bad results for up to a month.

This research is helping groups like the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute better define how people are affected by frequent time-shifts. For example, an individual that is asked by their employer to change their weekly work schedule of more than six-hours might be asking too much, and both work and home life could suffer. Additionally, people who repeatedly cross time zones, the effects have been shown to be more serious. 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.

Data such as these have prompted the World Health Organization lists shift work as a carcinogen. And, according to Dr. Kriegsfeld, people that are traveling should expect to allow one day of recovery for every one hour in time-shift. For those with shift working jobs, if they have the night shift, light tight curtains and often earplugs are a necessity to properly adjust.

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