A new body-hack app has been released by University of Michigan mathematicians. The app, they say, provides new shortcuts to help travelers deal with jet lag and time zone adjustments as quickly and easily as possible.

Danny Forger, mathematics professor at the U-M College of Literature, Science, and the Arts told EurekAlert that, “Overcoming jet lag is fundamentally a math problem and we’ve calculated the optimal way of doing it.” He continues, “We’re certainly not the first people to offer advice about this, but our predictions show the best and quickest ways to adjust across time zones.”

Jet lag is a physiological condition that causes an interruption in the body’s natural circadian rhythms, which can lead to unpleasant and even frustrating effects.

During the study, Forger worked together with then-undergraduate student Kirill Serkh to build their own unique methodology for discovering “mathematically optimal schedules of light exposure and avoidance.”

Results from the study were recently published in Public Library of Science Computational Biology.

The new app, called Entrain, is thought to be the first of its kind to take a numbers-based approach to “entrainment,” or the scientific term for matching circadian rhythms to the outside hour.

The app is constructed around the belief that light, especially when it comes from the sun or wavelengths that appear blue to the eye, is the most powerful signal for regulating these circadian rhythms. These variations in behavior and body functions, in addition to the planet’s 24-hour day, help to govern the process in every one of our cells.

Even short disruptions such as jet lag, with accompanying symptoms of fatigue and insomnia, have an effect on mood and performance.

The app offers shortcuts in the form of customized schedules of light and darkness that are dependent upon the itinerary.