21 days in bed to simulate a trip to space

Space travel affects the body of astronauts, causing them to lose bone density and muscle mass. It’s about aeffect similar to aging, but very accelerated. To study these consequences in depth and find ways to mitigate them, the National Center for Space Studies (France), the European Program for Life and Physical Sciences and the European Space Agency have launched a new experiment in which several volunteers must spend periods of 21 days without leaving the bed.

During this time, participants must always maintain a horizontal position, and have at least one shoulder and part of the hips supported on the mattress, including when eating, showering and urinating. In addition, the beds aretilted at a 6 degree angle, which causes responses in the body similar to those that occur in microgravity conditions. This is a much cheaper option than sending volunteers into space.

The volunteers are divided into three groups: a control group, with a total absence of physical activity; another in which the muscles are exercised with vibration machines; and a third group that, in addition to exercise, are supplied with protein supplements, which could help maintain muscle mass.
The experiment will be repeated two more times so that all the volunteers go through each of the groups, and there will be 4-month rest periods between the sessions for the long-suffering participants.

The researchers hope that the results will help, not only to alleviate the effects of space travel, but also toImprove Life Qualityof people who, due to some illness, are forced to spend long periods of time prostrate in their beds.