“It’s very hard to get it to go faster,” she says.Įastman has been studying jet lag for many years. The sleep-wake cycle shifts slowly you can’t push it around more than an hour or two a day, says Charmane Eastman, director of the Biological Rhythms Research Lab at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. It’s a very delicate system and you mess with it at your peril. Scientists have been studying jet lag for years and they’re just beginning to understand how body rhythms work to help us fall asleep and stay awake at regular times. But if these drugs are indeed part of his treatment, it’s easy to see why his doctors might have resorted to medication. “You do hear reports of some strange and bad behavior but you have to put that in the context of how many millions of people take this drug” without these problems, she says.Īgain, we don’t know exactly what the president has taken to fight jet lag. When her patients complain of side effects, Shives simply tells them to stop taking the drug. There have been reports of patients on Ambien sleepwalking and sleep-eating, and even occasional stories about people who drove while on Ambien and didn’t realize they were behind the wheel. Another drug, Sonata, works much the same way but is shorter-acting, Shives says.Īmbien has had bad press in recent years-and it might be a riskier choice for the president. Shives said she thinks Obama could also be taking a sleep aid like Ambien or Lunesta “so that he can go to sleep at a time when it might be unnatural for his circadian rhythm.” The effect of both drugs can last up to eight hours, which is why you shouldn’t take them if you need to be alert in less time.
Still, occasional use of the drug (if that’s indeed what Obama has taken) isn’t likely to have long-term consequences, doctors say. Modafinil does sometimes have side effects, including rashes, headaches, dizziness, and nausea.
The FDA is reviewing Cephalon’s application to market a drug called Nuvigil, which is similar to Provigil, as a jet-lag remedy. And that off-label status could soon change. Using the drug to keep patients awake after a long trip would be considered “off-label,” although it’s perfectly legal and very common, says Shives. The FDA says modafinil can only be marketed as a treatment for three things: narcolepsy, shift-work sleep disorder and excessive daytime sleepiness in patients who have been treated for obstructive sleep apnea. One little hitch: It’s not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for this purpose. It’s reported to be increasingly popular among sleep-deprived cohorts like long-distance truckers, fighter pilots, and students pulling all-nighters-and brought in $1 billion for Cephalon in 2008. Manufactured by Cephalon, it’s in a class of medications called “wakefulness promoting agents.” Fans claim you get all the benefits of a triple shot of espresso without the jitters or anxiety that can accompany a massive hit of caffeine. The drug has acquired an almost mythic status in recent years as a pill that makes it possible for the user to bypass the all-too-human need for sleep and work 24 or even 36 hours at a stretch. While the White House won't say what the president is actually taking, Provigil (also known by its generic name modafinil) is an intriguing possibility. Lisa Shives, medical director of Northshore Sleep Medicine in Evanston, Illinois. “If they’re going to give him something to wake him up, Provigil is the way to go,” says Dr. But sleep doctors we consulted say one possibility is Provigil, a stimulant that is regularly prescribed to help people fend off excessive sleepiness.įans claim you get all the benefits of a triple shot of espresso without the jitters or anxiety that can accompany a massive hit of caffeine. Jeffrey Kuhlman, didn’t say what drug the president might be taking to fight the mind-numbing effects of crossing too many time zones. Tucked away under a list of medications in the report on President Obama’s recent physical exam is this intriguing notation: “Jet lag/time zone management, direct physician prescribed program, occasional medication use.” Obama’s doctor, Navy Capt.
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