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■外國學者表示，咖啡因所具備的提神作用，有助旅客紓緩飛行時差問題。資料圖片
對很多要跨越幾個時區的旅客來說，能夠看到埃及金字塔會令人喜悅，但這種喜悅很快會被飛行時差所蓋過。
飛行常客有很多獨門秘方來抗衡睡意。一名美國俄勒岡州的研究員最近在《新英倫醫學雜誌》談及解決時差的3個基本策略：
1. 重新調整生理時鐘，方法是服用引起睡意的退黑激素，再配合日光照射的時間。
2. 調整睡眠時間。到達目的地幾天之後，若感昏昏欲睡，可以小睡一會。
3. 服用幫助睡覺或提神的藥物，或利用傳統有效的方法提神：咖啡因。
美國波特蘭俄勒岡健康與科學大學的精神科教授薩克說：「人體有機制去調整生理時鐘，但這些機制需我們啟動，才能有效執行。」
薩克指出，退黑激素是經過最廣泛研究的飛行時差治療方法。他表示，美國食品及藥物管理局雖然沒有評估退黑激素的效用，但迄今沒有重大的副作用報告。
暫時沒有任何治療時差藥物獲得美國食品及藥物管理局認可；但薩克稱提神和治療失眠的藥物可以緩減時差狀況。
對於由美國至巴黎、即向東飛行的旅客來說，到達時或可在太陽下走一走，再在露天咖啡店喝「拿鐵」咖啡。薩克稱，若旅客的睡意不斷增強，可以小睡一刻，然後服用0.5至3毫克的退黑激素，再睡一覺。幾天之內生理時鐘便能適應新的時區。
對於由歐洲返美國、即向西飛行的旅客來說，他們應在晚上曝光以保持精神；若他們清晨5時便醒過來，可服用少量的退黑激素。 ■綜合外電消息 ■羅國偉 資深翻譯員
Simple Jet Lag Cures: Melatonin, Sunlight, Coffee
For many travelers who cross several time zones, the exhilaration of taking in sights like the pyramids of Egypt is quickly tempered by the grogginess of jet lag.
Veteran flyers often have their own remedies to overcome those signals from the body that it's time for sleep. But an Oregon researcher recently detailed in The New England Journal of Medicine 3 basic strategies for overcoming jet lag:
• Reset the circadian clock that tells a person to stay awake during the day and sleep at night. You can do this by taking the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin, timing your exposure to bright light, or both.
• Adjust your sleep schedule. Take short naps if you are sleepy the first few days after arrival.
• Use medications to get to sleep or stay awake. Or turn to the old reliable remedy for keeping your eyes open: caffeine.
"We have mechanisms to adjust our clocks, but those mechanisms have to be called on to go into high gear," said Dr. Robert Sack, a psychiatry professor at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.
Sack said melatonin is the most extensively studied jet lag treatment. He said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not evaluated melatonin, but no significant adverse effects have been reported.
No drugs have been approved by the FDA for jet lag, but Sack says drugs that help with alertness or insomnia can alleviate jet lag.
So for eastward travel, from the U.S. to Paris for example, on arrival a traveler might go for a walk in the sun and then sip a latte at an outdoor cafe. Sack said travelers who are unbearably sleepy as the day wears on should take a short nap. Then take melatonin-a dose of 0.5 to 3 milligrams-before heading to bed and hopefully you'll be adjusted to your new time zone within a couple days.
For westward flights, such as Europe back to the U.S., travelers should expose themselves to bright light in the evening to help them stay up later, then if their eyes pop open before 5 a.m, take a low dose of melatonin. ■AP
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