Many people are now used to intercontinental travel. For some, sometimes, travel either East or West can be accompanied by a horrible set of symptoms that include insomnia, fatigue, dullness of mind and a general feeling of awfulness. We call this jet lag, and attribute it, probably correctly, to rapid movement through many time zones. Our bodies and minds just don't know where they are.
Much time is taken up in pubs and at dinner parties discussing strategies to get over jet lag.
Some consider alcohol a splendid remedy. Others recommend different foods, like burgers and fries going West, and salad and fasting going East. In recent years melatonin has been recommended in the press and elsewhere. Bandolier was asked for evidence that it worked. The study was randomised, double blind, double-dummy, and conducted on 339 Norwegian physicians who travelled to New York, spent at least five days there, and then returned home.