A REVIEW ON IMPLICATIONS OF BIOLOGICAL RHYTHMS ON LONG-HAUL TRAVELLERS IN DIFFERENT TIME ZONES AND SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE: WORSENING OF DIABETES MELLITUS

Abstract

Incidences of Diabetes mellitus (DM) gets worsen on frequent long-haul travel in different time zones and sedentary lifestyle. An extensive review of the published articles related to diabetes, the effect of lifestyle modification (exercise and diet) and travelling of diabetic people across different time zones were done and these were accessed from Pubmed-Medline, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Lancet and Diabetes Care. The study done by different scientists were compared and interpreted for the worsening of cases of DM. For long-haul travel in different time zones, it was observed that, due to metabolic disturbances, serious consequences of DM were observed in flight, but that can be prevented if pre-advice are taken by the patients and strictly followed. The cumulative incidences of diabetes of 10 cases were compared and mean cumulative incidences of control group (following sedentary lifestyle) was 42.77% and of intervention group (following healthy diet and moderate physical activity) was 22.11% confirming that implementation of the healthy diet and exercise as regular physical activity caused the lowering of cumulative incidences of diabetes. According to the research conducted on frequent flyers and sedentary lifestyle, the hypothesis quoted by various scientists is that DM is a metabolic disorder which easily gets affected by the frequent changes in the metabolism leading to its high incidences. Thus, the concept of chronobiology comes into light that requires more research to correlate the disturbed biological rhythm (Circadian cycle) to the incidences and severity of DM condition (worsening or increased incidences of DM).