00:00We have a master clock in our body, which is in our brain, near where the wires that
00:08come from our, the nerves that come from our eyes, go to the back of the brain. So they're
00:12very light sensitive, so sensitive to day and night, and that clock sends signals to
00:18the rest of the body. So our whole body, every cell in our body's got its own clock, and
00:24that clock is partly governed, these clocks are partly governed by what comes from the
00:28brain. So the day-night cycle is critical to that. And if our day-night cycle goes wrong,
00:35it's not just our brain that goes awry in our sleep, it's just almost every metabolic function
00:39in our body goes off a bit. It's not going to kill you, but it just goes off a bit, and
00:43you want to get that back in order. So you feel awful, your appetite's not quite right,
00:48you just feel jangled with jet lag. Some people don't get bothered by it at all. So the aim
00:54here is to reset that central clock according to the time zone you're in.
01:00So a lot of people use melatonin to reset that clock, is that right?
01:05Some people do. I personally don't, but some people do.
01:07And why do they do that, and are they using it correctly? Is it worth doing?
01:12So melatonin is released by this gland in the brain, which is part of this complex network
01:17of nerves, which control the body clock system. And melatonin rises at night and is one of
01:24the hormones that gets us off to sleep. In fact, the main hormone that gets us off to
01:28sleep. So people have assumed that with jet lag, what you need to do is take it when you
01:34want to go to sleep at your destination. Now, it may help you go to sleep, but it could really
01:40screw up your body clock. So it's not doing anything for your jet lag taking it that time.
01:45Oh, it's just a short-term fix.
01:47It's just a fix for sleeping, but you can use it to help reset your body clock if you
01:54choose to do so. And then it's got to be timed according to where you're travelling.
01:59So here it is. So it's timed according to... So one of the body clocks that you've got
02:04is your body temperature. So your body temperature goes down to its lowest form at about four o'clock
02:10in the morning, which is why you're pulling the duna up around about four in the morning
02:14and shivering, because that's when you feel you're at your coldest. So that's your body
02:21temperature minimum. So you orient it around that. So if you are going west, so you're heading
02:27towards Paris, London, you should be so lucky. You would take melatonin four hours after your
02:35body minimum temperature. So that's round about eight o'clock in the morning, eight or nine o'clock
02:40in the morning. That's when you take your melatonin. If you're travelling east, so you're coming back
02:45from your lovely trip to Europe, coming back to Australia, then you take it about 12 hours before
02:51your body clock minimum.
02:52Local time, wherever you've landed.
02:54Wherever you've landed. So that's four in the afternoon. And that's where you take your melatonin.
02:59And that's been shown to help reset your body clock, rather than just getting off to sleep
03:05when you go to think.
03:06Well, someone who's been trying to reset their biological clock, if you like, is this guy,
03:11Brian Johnson. He's the leader of this Don't Die movement. He's one of the first bio-hackers.
03:17What's he doing? Is it working?
03:20Well, he says it's working. You know, he reckons that he's biologically much younger than his
03:25chronological age. You know, he's doing so much and it takes up so much of his life that
03:32my view is that even if he doesn't live longer, he'll certainly feel as if he's lived longer.
03:37He gets up at five in the morning. He's got a set routine for every day. He doesn't eat
03:41after 11 o'clock in the morning. He takes lots of supplements. He takes drugs. He takes
03:46tadapolo, which is a drug for erectile dysfunction, but he thinks it has other effects on the body.
03:53By the way, if you've got any children watching, just cover their ears. He measures one of the
03:59effects of his body working well is how long he has an erection during the night. I mean,
04:05this guy is off the wall to some extent. He has done plasma infusions from his son and
04:13he takes drugs for blood pressure that he doesn't really need. It's a whole lot of stuff.
04:18Apparently, he spends about $2 million a year on this. And there are measures of your body,
04:26your biological ageing, which are getting to be quite reliable. For example, there's been a study
04:32in New Zealand of people from young ages through to middle age now. And they've also taken their,
04:38you know, they've also looked at their genes and what's called epigenetic effects,
04:43change and shape of their genes. And so they know what changes in this group of people in Dunedin,
04:47according to their age. And they've measured that against their genetic changes. And from that,
04:53they've got quite a reasonable body clock. So according to that, he is younger. But the
04:57question is, what in all these things that he's doing is making a difference?
05:01Hard to tell, because there's so many, right?
05:03Well, if you had to bet on it, it's his exercise regime. It's not eating too much during the day.
05:09And it's, you know, it's the stuff we already know. The thing that he's missing out on is I
05:15suspect he's not seeing too many people during the day and socialising, which is...
05:19Because he's so busy trying to keep young.
05:21Yeah.
05:21I'll just stick to the cold plunges and the good diet, I think.
05:23I think so too.
05:24Norman Swan, thank you.
05:25You're welcome.
05:25You're welcome.
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