Taking a pine bark extract for a few days before a long-haul flight may reduce the severity and duration of jet lag symptoms, new research shows. In the first part of the two-part study at G. D’Annunzio University in Pescara, Italy, the 32 patients who took the extract and completed the study scored 56 percent lower on a scale measuring jet lag symptoms like fatigue, grogginess, and insomnia 48 hours after their flight, compared to the 30 controls. Their symptoms also lasted 18.2 hours, on average, while study participants who didn’t take the extract had symptoms lasting an average of 39.3 hours. In the second part of the study, the same procedure was followed, but participants underwent a brain scan within 28 hours of their flight. The 30 control participants showed more swelling in the brain than the 30 who took Pycnogenol, the researchers found; their short-term memory also was more impaired, and the severity of their memory problems correlated to the amount of swelling in their lower limbs.

Too little sleep tied to cancer risk
Regular exercise can reduce a woman’s risk of cancer, but the benefits may slip away if she gets too little sleep, a US research suggests. The study involving 5,968 women in Maryland confirmed previous findings that people who do regular physical activity are less likely to develop cancer. But when the researchers looked at the women ages 18 to 65 who were in the upper half in terms of the amount of physical exercise they got per week, they found that sleep appeared to play an important role in cancer risk. Those who slept less than seven hours nightly had a 47 per cent higher risk of cancer than those who got more sleep among the physically active women, the researchers reported at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

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