To resolve that issue, a group of researchers and engineers have the University of Texas Southwestern have developed a special type of sleeping bag that might help astronauts with their blood flow problems caused by gravity, and potentially get their sight back.
To solve that issue, a group of researchers and engineers have the University of Texas Southwestern have developed an unique type of sleeping bag that might help astronauts with their blood circulation concerns caused by gravity, and possibly get their sight back.
Astronaut Chris Hatfield demonstrates the standard method of sleeping in space.Credit– Canadian Space Agency YouTube Channel.
This might appear like a great deal of work to try to solve a problem that just a handful of people have ever experienced. However SANS will end up being a growing number of an issue, particularly if NASA and the business companies it supports intend on actually sending out a person to Mars. Any such trip would take a minimum of 2 years, and while some of that time may be spent in gravity, much of it would not be. The mission itself could be a complete catastrophe if the astronauts can not see by the time they get to the red planet.
If the option is as easy as oversleeping a specially developed bag, then thats one less thing the coordinators of that mission will need to fret about. And it appears that it might undoubtedly be that easy– Dr. Levine thinks his teams development might certainly fix the problem of SANS. But it still needs to be evaluated in the real environment. NASA is really helpful of his efforts, so in the not too long run, anticipate to see an astronaut resting in what may seek to outsiders like a huge ice cream cone, however could potentially help them keep their ice sight when they need it most.
Find out more: UT Southwestern– High-tech sleeping bag might solve vision problems in spaceEngadget– NASAs brand-new sleeping bags might avoid eyeball squashing on the ISSCNN– An unique sleeping bag could help astronauts with vision concerns in spaceUT– Special Skinsuits Could Help Astronauts Avoid Back Pain When Their Spines Expand In Space.
Lead Image: Dr. James Leidner offered for a special sort of sleep study.Credit– UT Southwestern.
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One of the numerous indignities that isnt much gone over in spaceflight is that more than half of the astronauts residing on the spaceport station for more than six months have suffered from vision problems. The issues seemed connected to a condition called spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome, or SANS. It happens when an individuals eyeball is flattened by consistent pressure from their circulatory system.
Depiction of the issue astronauts face with blood circulation to their eyes in space.Credit– NASA/ UT Southwestern
It might not just be the eyes that are affected by this pressure. Some astronauts experience a condition known colloquially as the “space stupids,” where they make basic errors that they feel they would not have actually made back in the world. Given that the brain might suffer from the exact same pressure impacting the eyes, the underlying cause of SANS may have much more deleterious impacts than originally thought.
Luckily, for those people still Earthbound, gravity helps pull the blood, triggering the pressure down to the rest of our bodies, allowing time for our brain and eyes to recover while standing or sitting up. However, doctors can replicate the impacts of SAN by needing a patient to lay susceptible in a bed for a little more than three days..
The problem with being in orbit during medical check-ups is sometimes you have to do your own. Here astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor examines her eye with a “funduscope” on the ISS.Credit– NASA.
Dr. James Leidner, an internal medicine hospitalist, volunteered for this strenuous job and invested 3 days on his back in bed attempting to replicate the condition. He did so two times, with researchers measuring his brain activity at the end of each three-day duration. He was fitted by a specifically designed sleeping back for 8 hours a night throughout the second experiment.
That sleeping bag was created by Dr. Benjamin Levine and his group of professionals in astronaut health. It is intended to force bodily fluids to move into the lower body, eliminating the pressure they cause on the brain and eyes. To do so, it compresses the legs in a pattern to force blood to flow more directly to them, dispersing the blood more like t would be on Earth.
Other experiments were performed on cancer clients who had a brain port.Credit– UT Southwestern/ NASA.
The improvement in brain function in Dr. Leidner and other volunteers was noteworthy, however Dr. Levin and his team werent pleased. To show their solution would work in absolutely no gravity, they used an extremely specific test group– cancer survivors who happened to have a port directly into their brain that would permit the UTSouthwestern team to straight measure their brain pressure.
These brave volunteers consented to take zero-gravity flights while linked to a customized pressure sensing unit that would keep an eye on the pressure on their brain in real-time. Researchers could then see the direct impact of the sleeping bag on brain pressure in zero gravity– even if it was only for a few seconds at a time.
He was fitted by a specifically created sleeping back for 8 hours a night during the second experiment.
To do so, it compresses the legs in a pattern to require blood to stream more straight to them, dispersing the blood more like t would be on Earth.
If the astronauts can not see by the time they get to the red planet, the mission itself might be a total catastrophe.
NASA is very helpful of his efforts, so in the not too remote future, expect to see an astronaut taking a nap in what might look to outsiders like a giant ice cream cone, however might possibly assist them keep their ice sight when they need it most.
