The "Zz ENT" doctors orders could be: go on a camping vacation! Camping may help retrain body’s internal clock. The Los Angeles Times (8/2, Netburn, 692K) “Science Now” blog reports that camping for a week “may help reset” the “body’s internal clock,” according to a study published online Aug. 1 in the journal Current Biology. On its website, Fox News (8/2, Tarkan) reports that investigators monitored eight people for seven days while they underwent their normal activities and then monitored them again while the eight individuals went camping for a week in Colorado. Light exposure was limited to sunlight and campfires, and participants were not allowed to use flashlights or electronic devices like smartphones, computers, or televisions. Melatonin levels of participants were measured at the end of both study weeks. HealthDay (8/2, Norton) reports that after a week of camping, everyone, even the night owls, experienced a “biological night” that started approximately two hours earlier. Levels of melatonin “began to rise around sunset, and then drop off around sunrise, almost an hour before they woke up.” The study’s lead author hypothesized that both nighttime exposure to artificial light, as well as a daytime lack of sunlight, may be “contributing to some people’s sleep problems.”
Posted on: Fri, 02 Aug 2013 13:27:02 +0000
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