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A pill that uses a genetic trick to reset your body’s internal clock forward could eliminate jet lag more effectively than light therapy or melatonin. A team of researchers at several Japanese universities have developed an experimental oral compound and report their discovery in the Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Their discovery, named Mic-628, works by activating a core clock gene known as Period1, or Per1, which establishes the timing of sleep, wakefulness, and metabolism. Unlike existing approaches that rely on precisely timed light exposure, Mic-628 advances the body clock no matter when it is ingested.

Using a mouse model to simulate eastward jet travel, a single dose of Mic-628 successfully shortens jet-lag recovery from seven to just four days. Most significantly, this drug shifts both the brain’s master clock and peripheral clocks in organs like the lungs and maintains body sync.

The researchers note that advancing the body’s clock forward is not only important for eastward air travel but also for night-shift work. Current approaches using melatonin give inconsistent results.

While Mic-628 has not yet entered clinical trials, it could become a new class of “smart circadian drugs” that effectively treat jet lag, shift-work sleep problems, and other disorders caused by body-clock misalignments…..someday soon.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-jet-lag-scientists-oral-compound.html

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2509943123

#jetlag #circadianrhythm #nightshift #melatonin