Jet-lag and shift work: (2). Therapeutic use of melatonin.

The preceding article1 has laid the foundations for understanding the difficulties of jet-lag and shiftworker's malaise and for appreciating the various countermeasures other than chronobiotics (drugs that alter rhythms). Several approaches have met with some success. One of the major difficulties in this area is the uncontrollable nature of field studies on jet-lag and our inability to simulate timezone change in the laboratory in a way that takes account of all the factors that may arise in the field.