This does not sound too market ready but is a proof of principal. It is certainly possible. Thus a reset pill pack that forces alteration is also plausible.
Something like that would be valuable if only to end the induced time lag that is very uncomfortable.
Better yet it would be nice to reestablish normal sleeping patterns quickly and decisively. Most of us do get our sleep pattern thrown off and restoration is often never the same. .
Scientists hit upon new reset button for biological clocks
http://www.gizmag.com/scientists-reset-button-biological-clock/35888/
Those working through the night or regularly falling victim to jet
lag may be familiar with the physical toll of disrupting our biological
clocks. Progress has been made in understanding how our bodies can better adjust to these disruptions, but scientists have now discovered a "reset button" that to new possibilities for treatments to get our bodies back in sync.
Our biological clocks, or circadian rhythms, run on 24 hour cycles
and are dictated by changes in light. If an external factor throws this
clock out of whack, be it through lack of exposure to sunlight, working
late shifts or playing World of Warcraft all night, it can induce depression, changes in mood and conditions such as seasonal affective disorder.
Over the years, various research efforts have been directed at
pinning down the mechanism that keeps this clock ticking, and how it
might be manipulated to counter the negative health impacts. This has
resulted in solutions such as LED light glasses, purpose-built glass houses and glowing pillows.
Now, researchers from Tennessee's Vanderbilt University claim to have
discovered a switch for the brain's master biological clock. The study
was conducted using genetically modified mice, which the researchers say
possess an almost identical biological clock to humans, other than
being nocturnal.
"We found we can change an animal’s sleep and wake rhythms by
artificially stimulating the neurons in the master biological clock,
which is located in an area of the brain called the suprachiasmatic
nucleus (SCN), with a laser and an optical fiber," says Douglas McMahon,
Professor of Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University.
This optogenetics technique sees genes expressing optically sensitive
proteins inserted into particular cells with the aim of changing how
they respond to light. The team found that in doing so, they could both
stimulate and suppress the activity of the SCN neurons to replicate
night and day and actually force the clock to reset. The firing rate of
these neurons had previously been thought to be only an output of the biological clock's activity.
"Of course, this exact approach isn’t ready for human use yet," says
Michael Tackenberg, a doctoral student who worked on the study. "But
others are making progress toward eventually using optogenetics as
therapy."
Tackenberg is now investigating whether the mice with seasonal affective disorder respond to the new technique.
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The research was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
Source: Vanderbilt University
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