Sleep meds may do more harm than good: study

Medications that treat jetlag or similar disorders may actually be doing you a disservice. That's according to U.S. researchers who say when it comes to your body's internal clock, medical science may actually have things completely backwards.

In the past, scientists have used a protein called PER to measure your internal clock.

Most of the time, you want to have fairly steady levels of PER.

Scientists have long thought that during a body clock malfunction, breakdown of PER present in your body slows down, causing the PER to accumulate. This is called a "Tau mutation".

However, the new research has shown that the Tau mutation doesn't slow down the breakdown process. It speeds it up, creating a lack of PER, rather than an accumulation.

As a result, medications may be getting rid of essential PER that is needed to regulate your body clock again. This opposite effect can cause insomnia, depression, and some forms of cancer.

The researchers' work is published in the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Photography: BBC

Source: Discovery Channel Reports, July 4 edition