Bad news for future space missions: Astronauts have lost decades of bone mass in space. A new study reveals that many don’t recover even after a year on Earth.
Bone atrophy caused by weightlessness in space, similar to osteoporosis, has been studied for several years. Floating on space stations is fun, but astronauts must devote several hours a day to physical exercise to reduce the damage caused by inactivity to the musculoskeletal system.
Previous studies have shown that astronauts You lose 1 to 2 percent of your bone density for every month spent in space. What is unknown is how long it takes an astronaut’s body to recover after returning to Earth.
To come to a conclusion, a new study followed 17 astronauts before, during, and after a stay on the International Space Station (ISS).
Recovery is not complete, even after a year of returning to Earth
The investigation, which began in 2015, tracked 14 men and three women before the spaceflight, when they returned to Earth, six months later and 12 months later. The names and nationalities of the astronauts have not been revealed, but they belong to NASA, the European Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency and JAXA.
Scientists on the team led by Stephen Boyd, director of the McCaig Institute for Bone Health at the University of Calgary in Canada, analyzed the tibia (which supports nearly all of our body weight) and the radius (the forearm) to assess density and fracture resistance.
One year into the flight, 16 astronauts had incomplete resorption of their tibia, which had lost up to 2.1% of their bone density compared to the time before the flight. The longer you stay in the orbit (6 to 7 months), the greater the damage to the bone system.
Conclusion: The bone density lost by the astronauts was equivalent to what they would have lost for several decades if they had always been on Earth.The study published in the journal reveals Scientific Reports.
“We already knew that astronauts lose bone mass in long-duration spaceflight. What’s new about this study is that we followed astronauts for a year after space travel to understand if and how bone heals.”
The astronauts suffered a significant bone loss during their six-month spaceflights – a loss we would expect to see in older adults over our two decades on Earth. And after a year of returning to Earth, they only regained half of that loss.”Gabel explained.
“As if the astronauts lay for 22 hours.”
The ISS residents had a new machine developed by NASA for a few years, the Ared (Advanced Resistance Exercise Device), which exerts similar resistance to gravity on the body, allowing leg flexion, biceps or abdominal exercises, which are essential exercises that reduce bone loss .
Microgravity [ausência de peso] It’s the most dangerous form of physical inactivity, Guillemet Goklin-Koch, head of space medicine at the National Center for Space Studies who was not involved in the study, told AFP. “Even with two hours of physical exercise a day, it’s like lying down for 22 hours.”
It’s just that for future manned flights to Mars – which take more than six months – this is another problem to overcome, adding to the problem of cosmic radiation and the psychological impact of prolonged confinement.
“It won’t be easy for the crew to set foot on Mars when they arrive… It’s very disabling,” Goklin Koch said.
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