Is your job making you ill?

research suggests that there’s another side to it. Confusing your body clock might be taking a toll as well.

Our body clocks have some important responsibilities. As well as setting internal cycles which make us tired around our usual bedtime and help us wake up around the same time every day – even at the weekend when we’re dying for a lie-in – they also help to regulate our hormones, body temperature and eating and digesting food. 

The body’s internal clock also works like a protective shield when it comes to viral infections, according to the study, which was published Monday in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. So, you can see how confusing it (as you do with jet lag) would throw it off kilter. The effect of travel on your body has previously been investigated extensively, finding that jet lag can actually make your period late.

Upset your body clock, and viruses like the flu and common cold will have a greater opportunity to rush in, overtake your cells and spread throughout your body, the study’s co-author Akhilesh Reddy, told Mashable.

Professor Reddy went on to explain that ‘When you disrupt the clockwork, then your clock is in no-man’s land.’ Reddy, a clinical studies fellow at the University of Cambridge and a professor of experimental neurology, went on to explain that in that state ‘you’re more likely to get an infection.’

So there you have it. If you’re travelling a lot for work, you can coat yourself in all the hand sanitizer in Boots, but it’s not just bacteria that can make you ill, so make sure you get plenty of R&R when you get home too.