Can light reduce the effects of jet lag?
Nick Love is very fond of rugby. So when he planned a trip to watch the British Lions play on their recent three-week tour of New Zealand, he was extremely concerned that he would have to miss some of the games because of jet lag. “With the time difference plus the 22-hour flight I thought I was going to feel terrible for four to five days,” he says. Love, who works for a software company, came across an advertisment for a light-emitting visor which is said to help you adjust to a new time zone by slowing down the body’s internal clock. “I had my doubts, but thought I’d give it a go.” The visor looks like a plastic version of the sun protector once favoured by tennis players, but with lights, rather than terry towelling, under the brim. Love put his usual bed time and the time zone he was travelling to, into a jet lag calculator, which then told him precisely when he should wear the visor — in two three-hour stints on consecutive days. The first of these occurred on the flight to Toyko
