Not eating for 12-16 hours can help people quickly reset their sleep-wake cycle, according to a new study from the Harvard Medical School. This discovery can drastically improve a person’s ability to cope with jet lag or adjust to working late shifts.
Scientists have long known that our circadian rhythm is regulated by our exposure to light. Now they have found a second “food clock” that takes over when we are hungry. This mechanism probably evolved to make sure starving mammals don’t go to sleep when they should be foraging for food.
The lead researcher Clifford Saper explains:
“The neat thing about this second clock is that it can override the main clock … and you should just flip into that new time zone in one day.”
It usually takes people a week to fully adjust to a new time zone or sleeping schedule. To think that this new “food clock” hack can help you change your internal clock in one day is mind boggling.