jet lag cognitive performance

The state of sleep consists of different phases that proceed in successive, tightly regulated order through the night forming a physiological program, which for each individual is different but stabile from one night to another. Failure to accomplish this program results in feeling of unrefreshing sleep and tiredness in the morning. The program core is constructed by genetic factors but regulated by circadian rhythm and duration and intensity of day time brain activity. Many environmental factors modulate sleep, including stress, health status and ingestion of vigilance-affecting nutrients or medicines (e...

CONTEXT: Prolonged transmeridian air travel can impart a physical and emotional burden on athletes in jet lag and travel fatigue. Jet lag may negatively affect the performance of athletes. STUDY TYPE: Descriptive review. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: A Medline search for articles relating to jet lag was performed (1990-present), as was a search relating to jet lag and athletes (1983-January, 2012). The results were reviewed for relevance. Eighty-nine sources were included in this descriptive review...

Cognitive and affective processes vary over the course of the 24 h day. Time of day dependent changes in human cognition are modulated by an internal circadian timekeeping system with a near-24 h period. The human circadian timekeeping system interacts with sleep-wakefulness regulatory processes to modulate brain arousal, neurocognitive and affective function. Brain arousal is regulated by ascending brain stem, basal forebrain (BF) and hypothalamic arousal systems and inhibition or disruption of these systems reduces brain arousal, impairs cognition, and promotes sleep...

Treatment of circadian rhythm disorders, whether precipitated by intrinsic factors (e.g., sleep disorders, blindness, mental disorders, aging) or by extrinsic factors (e.g., shift work, jet-lag) has led to the development of a new type of agents called "chronobiotics". The term "chronobiotic" defines a substance displaying the therapeutic activity of shifting the phase or increasing the amplitude of the circadian rhythms. The prototype of this therapeutic group is melatonin, whose administration synchronizes the sleep-wake cycle in blind people and in individuals suffering from circadian rhythm sleep disorders, like delayed sleep phase syndrome, jet lag or shift-work...

Abrupt alterations in the 24-h light : dark cycle, such as those resulting from transmeridian air travel, disrupt circadian biological rhythms in humans with detrimental consequences on cognitive and physical performance. In the present study, a jetlag-simulated phase shift in photoperiod temporally impaired circadian peaks of peripheral clock gene expression in racehorses but acutely enhanced athletic performance without causing stress. Indices of aerobic and anaerobic capacities were significantly increased by a phase-advance, enabling prolonged physical activity before fatigue occurred...

Circadian rhythms in physiology and behavior exist in all living organisms, from cells to humans. The most evident rhythms are the recurrent cycles of sleep and wake as well as changes in alertness and cognitive performance across the 24h. Clearly, sleep pressure can exert a strong influence on cognitive performance, but the influence of circadian modulation of alertness and cognitive function is evident even when the pressure for sleep is high. Circadian rhythms also influence more complex cognitive tasks, such as selective attention and executive function, which are important for work performance and safety...

BACKGROUND: Sleepiness leads to a deterioration in performance and attention, and is associated with an increased risk of injury. Jet lag and shift work disorder are circadian rhythm sleep disorders which result in sleepiness and can elevate injury risk. They create a need for individuals to operate at times which are different to those dictated by their circadian rhythms. Consequently there is also a need for interventions to help ensure that these persons can do so safely. Caffeine has a potential role in promoting alertness during times of desired wakefulness in persons with jet lag or shift work disorder, however its effects on injury and error are unclear...

The endogenous circadian clock modulates cognitive performance over the daily 24-h cycle. Environmental disturbance of the clock, such as shift work or jet lag schedules, compromises sleep, alertness and problem solving. What is not generally appreciated, however, is that the circadian clock also modulates cognitive activity independently of time spent awake. The molecular identification of circadian clock genes in higher eukaryotes has revealed a conserved intracellular mechanism that, if disrupted by mutation, can have significant implications for mental and physical health...

Travel across multiple time zones results in desynchronization of environmental time cues and the sleep-wake schedule from their normal phase relationships with the endogenous circadian system. Circadian misalignment can result in poor neurobehavioral performance, decreased sleep efficiency, and inappropriately timed physiological signals including gastrointestinal activity and hormone release. Frequent and repeated transmeridian travel is associated with long-term cognitive deficits, and rodents experimentally exposed to repeated schedule shifts have increased death rates...

The relationship of sleep to post-exercise recovery (PER) and athletic performance is a topic of great interest because of the growing body of scientific evidence confirming a link between critical sleep factors, cognitive processes, and metabolic function. Sleep restriction (sleep deprivation), sleep disturbance (poor sleep quality), and circadian rhythm disturbance (jet lag) are the key sleep factors that affect the overall restorative quality of the sleep state. This article discusses these theoretic concepts, presents relevant clinical cases, and reviews pilot data exploring the prevalence of sleep disturbance in two groups of high-performance athletes...

Sleep inertia is the impaired cognitive performance immediately upon awakening, which decays over tens of minutes. This phenomenon has relevance to people who need to make important decisions soon after awakening, such as on-call emergency workers. Such awakenings can occur at varied times of day or night, so the objective of the study was to determine whether or not the magnitude of sleep inertia varies according to the phase of the endogenous circadian cycle. Twelve adults (mean, 24 years; 7 men) with no medical disorders other than mild asthma were studied...

The relationship of sleep to post-exercise recovery (PER) and athletic performance is a topic of great interest because of the growing body of scientific evidence confirming a link between critical sleep factors, cognitive processes, and metabolic function. Sleep restriction (sleep deprivation), sleep disturbance (poor sleep quality), and circadian rhythm disturbance (jet lag) are the key sleep factors that affect the overall restorative quality of the sleep state. This article discusses these theoretic concepts, presents relevant clinical cases, and reviews pilot data exploring the prevalence of sleep disturbance in two groups of high-performance athletes...

The pineal hormone, melatonin, has widespread effects on the body. The aim of this review is to consider the specific interactions between melatonin and human physiological functions associated with sport and exercise medicine. Separate researchers have reported that melatonin concentrations increase, decrease and remain unaffected by bouts of exercise. Such conflicting findings may be explained by inter-study differences in lighting conditions and the time of day the study participants have exercised. Age and fitness status have also been identified as intervening factors in exercise-mediated changes in melatonin concentration...

The symptoms of jet lag cause distress to an increasing number of travelers. Potentially they may impair sleep, mood and cognitive performance. Critically timed exposure to bright light and melatonin administration can help to reduce symptoms. Bright light is one of the most powerful synchronizers of human rhythms and melatonin serves as a "dark pulse" helping to induce nighttime behaviors. Thus, enhancing day and night signals to the brain, appropriate to the environmental light/dark cycle of the new time zone, can serve to reestablish adaptive timing relationships between the body's internal biological rhythms and the external environment, and thereby reduce the symptoms of jet lag...

Current remedies for jet lag (phototherapy, melatonin, stimulant, and sedative medications) are limited in efficacy and practicality. The efficacy of a stabilized, sublingual form of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH, ENADAlert, Menuco Corp.) as a countermeasure for jet lag was examined. Because NADH increases cellular production of ATP and facilitates dopamine synthesis, it may counteract the effects of jet lag on cognitive functioning and sleepiness. Thirty-five healthy, employed subjects participated in this double-blind, placebo-controlled study...

The acute disruption in sleep quality, vigilance levels, and cognitive and athletic performance observed after transmeridian flights is presumed to be the result of a transient misalignment between the endogenous circadian pacemaker and the shifted sleep schedule. Several laboratory and field experiments have demonstrated that exposure to bright artificial light can accelerate circadian entrainment to a shifted sleep-wake schedule. In the present study, the authors investigated whether the schedule of exposure to indoor room light, to which urban dwellers are typically exposed, can substantially affect circadian adaptation to a simulated eastward voyage...

Shift work and jet lag can disrupt cicadian rhythms, with detrimetnal effects on alertness, performance and sleep. This study examined the effects of two interventions to adapt circadian rhythms, sleep and performance to a 10-h phase delay of the work-rest cycle. Bright light was administered from 2200 to 0200 each night to promote phase delay of circadian rhythms. Low energy emission therapy (LEET) was administered for 20 min prior to daytime sleep periods to promote sleep. Twelve subjects received bright light, 12 subjects received LEET, 11 received both interventions and 10 control subjects received only placebo treatments...

BACKGROUND: The rapid deployment of Army aviation personnel across time zones, combined with missions beginning immediately upon arrival, results in desynchronization of physiological and cognitive performance rhythms. Implementation of effective countermeasures enhances safety, health, well-being, and mission completion. The naturally occurring hormone melatonin has been suggested as an effective counter measure for jet lag and shift lag because of its influence on the human circadian timing system and its hypnotic properties...

Daily or circadian rhythmical oscillations occur in several physiological and behavioral functions that contribute to athletic performance. These functions include resting levels of sensory motor, perceptual, and cognitive performance and several neuromuscular, behavioral, cardiovascular, and metabolic variables. In addition, circadian rhythms have been reported in many indices of aerobic capacity, in certain physiological variables at different exercise levels, and, in a few studies, in actual athletic performance proficiency...

Cognitive performance in postsurgical patients may be impaired by disturbances of normal circadian rhythm analogous to those produced by rapid transmeridian travel ("jet lag"). We therefore tested the hypothesis that isoflurane anesthesia alone produces a phase-delay in the human circadian temperature rhythm. We monitored central body temperature rhythms (using an ingested sensor) in five young, healthy, male volunteers at 3-min intervals for a total of 5 days. On the 3rd day, 3 h of 1.0% isoflurane anesthesia was administered beginning at approximately 10:00 AM...