MANY Inverclyde people travel long distances for their summer holidays — and then have to combat the effects of jet lag when they return.

Now a pill to treat it could be on the shelves within five years following a discovery which, it is claimed, allows scientists to ‘re-set’ the human body clock.

Shift workers face the same problem. It hits me if I’ve been working overnight covering an election count and don’t get home until about six or seven in the morning.

My mind is usually still too active to get to sleep, and I’ve found myself cutting the grass before conking out about 2pm — and then taking a couple of days to get back to normal.

I’m not sure about popping a pill, however. I think I’d rather put up with the inconvenience.

There seems to be an acceptance in today’s world that everything can be solved with a tablet.

A consultation is currently going on, for example, into whether millions more people should be put on cholesterol-lowering ‘statin’ drugs.

Some experts worry about possible side effects, and believe these pills could do more harm than good by offering false assurance that individuals are protected for life and can ignore serious risk factors such as poor diet, smoking and lack of exercise.

And a recent survey of 500 GPs revealed only half would personally take a statin or recommend them to a family member.

Enough said?