An experiment aimed at finding ways to help astronauts adapt to life on Mars could end up helping insomniacs on Earth, researchers said on Monday.
They found that two 45-minute exposures to bright light in the evening could help people adjust to a longer, Martian-style day.
During the experiment, they found a wider-than-expected variation in an internal system the human body uses to keep track of days and nights, and they believe their treatment might help people with certain disorders of this system.
“The results have powerful implications for the treatment of circadian rhythm sleep disorders, including shift work disorder and advanced sleep phase disorder,” said Dr. Charles Czeisler, chief of the Division of Sleep Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard medical school in Boston.
The U.S. space agency NASA had asked Czeisler’s lab to find ways to help astronauts adjust to life on Mars, where the days are about 24 hours and 39 minutes long, or 24.65 hours.