The list of health things for which hanging around in zero G seems to be bad continues to grow. I hadn't heard of this before:
In a study tracking astronaut health, 22 of 24 International Space Station (ISS) visitors suffered headaches almost three times as frequently as when on Earth. Even some astronauts with no history of headaches may experience migraine and tension-type headaches during stays of 10 days or longer in space, reported a new study published in Neurology....
The astronauts from the European Space Agency, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency underwent health screenings prior to their missions. They also completed questionnaires documenting their headache history. Once in space, they completed the questionnaires for the first seven days and weekly thereafter.
The contrasts were striking. Before their ISS trip, nine astronauts reported no headaches over the past year. Only three mentioned experiencing a headache that interfered with their lives during that period. None had a history of recurrent headaches or had been diagnosed with migraines.
The astronauts reported 378 headaches while in space. Of the total headaches, 170, or 90 percent, were tension-type and 19, or 10 percent, were migraine. Once back on Earth, none reported headaches the first three months after their return.
It's a pity that early science fiction optimism about the fun of being in zero G just isn't really reflected in reality. Although low gravity, like on the Moon, might still be a lot of fun. I have a hunch that the first extensive use of the Moon might be more for the money to be made from a low gravity sports arena than from anything to be manufactured there!
1 comment:
Steve I haven't closely followed that research. The list of problems grows. I always thought the idea of a Mars colony was nuts because while everybody focused on radiation, which is an addressable problem, most didn't seem to appreciate how so much of our physiology is subject to selection pressures arising from gravity. I wouldn't be surprised if the headaches are caused by the lack of gravity causing cerebral spinal fluid to accumulate more in the ventricles of the brain rather than the spinal cord. I checked, it might even be true ...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-79695-z
"Previous literature describes that, when standing up, gravity displaces the blood and fluid towards the feet, thereby introducing a hydrostatic pressure gradient and reducing pressure in the cranial direction9."
Post a Comment