{"id":11758,"date":"2024-08-02T14:00:19","date_gmt":"2024-08-02T21:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.everywomanover29.com\/blog\/?p=11758"},"modified":"2025-12-12T02:12:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T10:12:59","slug":"bright-light-to-reset-circadian-rhythm-a-solution-for-jet-lag-with-melatonin-and-for-disturbed-sleep-caused-by-bile-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everywomanover29.com\/blog\/bright-light-to-reset-circadian-rhythm-a-solution-for-jet-lag-with-melatonin-and-for-disturbed-sleep-caused-by-bile-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"Bright light to reset circadian rhythm: a solution for jet lag (with melatonin) and for disturbed sleep caused by bile issues?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"bright<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Bright light is one of the most powerful synchronizers of human rhythms and melatonin serves as a \u2018\u2018dark pulse\u2019\u2019 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\u2019s internal biological rhythms and the external environment, and thereby reduce the symptoms of jet lag.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The above is from a paper published in 2002, Jet Lag: Minimizing It\u2019s Effects with Critically Timed Bright Light and Melatonin Administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I came across this research just before my recent trip to Boston. I always use high dose melatonin to help with jet lag but because it was a business trip and I needed to be in top form as soon as I arrived, I was intrigued about the addition of bright light. So I purchased a light-weight 10,000 lux bright light panel and took it with me.<\/p>\n

I was actually looking for solutions for my issues with a strange sleep pattern i.e. in waking in the early hours and not being able to get back to sleep on days when I would go to bed much earlier than usual. That pilot study<\/a> found that \u201ca brief course of morning bright light treatment had positive effects on subjective sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, and sleep timing in patients with primary biliary cholangitis.<\/em>\u201d And it led me to the jet lag research which is typical when you\u2019re digging through the research!<\/p>\n

The benefits for both situations – jet lag and disturbed sleep\/bile issues – reinforced my decision and I\u2019m so glad I got one. I love it! My jet lag results were better with the bright light and melatonin combined (with some caveats I share below). And I continue to use my light panel daily which means much improved sleep on those nights when I have to get to bed earlier. I am a hot mess when I don\u2019t get a good 9 hours sleep and it\u2019s something I continually work on.<\/p>\n

I share more on both studies below, details on what timing is best for the bright light when traveling and at home, melatonin dosing (from the study and what I do) and how I plan to adjust things for my next long flight.<\/p>\n

More from the jet lag study on bright light timing and melatonin<\/h2>\n

The jet lag paper<\/a>\u00a0talks about light being \u201cone of the most powerful synchronizers of human circadian rhythms: <\/em><\/p>\n