Hamster frequent fliers swear by Viagra

Help is finally at hand. Next time your wife finds a pack of Viagra or Levitra in your luggage after an overseas business trip, just tell her it's to treat your jetlag. Yes, it's been scientifically proven, at least in hamsters.

Don't ask me why, but circadian rhythms researcher Diego Golombek and his colleagues at the National University of Quilmes in Buenos Aires, Argentina, decided to feed sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra, to the animals.

They then pushed their sleep patterns ahead by six hours, roughly equivalent to a plane trip from New York to Paris. Dr Golombek said the hamsters adjusted 33 per cent faster to the six-hour time change than those that were not fed sildenafil, according to a report in the science weekly Nature.

The research group believes sildenafil targets both sex dysfunction and jetlag by boosting the levels of a signalling compound called cGMP. The compound induces blood-vessel dilation as well as modulation of the body's internal clock. The drug causes the accumulation of cGMP in the part of the brain that regulates the body's internal clock.

Dr Golombek would not say whether it would have the same effect on humans, but said further investigation was warranted.