Long space flights may harm astronauts’ sleep patterns, a 520-day
experiment found. Replacing fluorescent bulbs with blue lights like the
ones in this photo may help avoid those problems.
Credit: ESA
13 comments:
Elena
said...
If you don't get enough sleep, it can be dangerous. You typically won't function correctly in your regular life. If you go a certain amount of days with NO sleep, you can die. It is important for these astronauts going to Mars to sleep enough, because they need energy to conduct tests; however, if they sleep too much, they will get used to sleeping more often, and will become, as the article said, less alert. The man who became less alert will eventually get more sleep when he isn't testing in the small room, but you have to stay healthy while on a mission to Mars like this one. If they were learning to "cope with living in close quarters," how will they function when they get back to "Earth"? This article was very interesting. I loved it!
This article was actually quite interesting. I almost fainted when I heard that a few men were locked a windowless capsule for over 74 weeks (over a year) pretending that they were on a flight to mars. I definitely could not do that. You probably would assume that someone's sleep schedule would get thrown off if they were in that position. I know that my schedule gets thrown off when I go on vacation to a different time zone. Like Elena said what would happen when they got back to Earth.
I agree with Elena that sleep is a vital thing in growing up and functioning. I already know that it is hard to live and sleep in a space shuttle. They were in the space shuttle for around 2 years. That must be horrible, especially if you are claustrophobic. (doubt anyone who would do that would be) I thought this article was pretty cool
I felt close to the same way as Izzy when I read that the men had to be in the tiny capsule for 74 weeks, which seems like a very long time, even for an experiment like this one. It is important to see what happens to people who experience conditions like that where they don't have a lot to do, though, so I can understand why the experiment was crucial to conduct. What I don't understand is why the people making space capsules like this one don't go into details such as decorations in the capsule and things that could distract the astronauts from sleeping. If you really think about it, the reason that we don't have crazy designs in our rooms or very brightly colored furniture such as neons or florescent lightbulbs (first, I am sorry if anyone reading this does have neon furniture, and second, the article didn't explain switching out florescent lightbulbs with blue ones, but the caption under the picture did, which I really didn't like), so scientists should really take away distractions before worrying about basic sleep patterns. After all, distractions will cause those sleep patterns to change and sleep to increase and decrease steadily. Overall, I don't really think that this article covered as much information as I would've liked. I really hope that there is another article on this sometime soon that covers more information because I think that space travel and the physics and things it can do to people is really interesting.
Interesting. I'm worried about those men though. Will they be all right? I'm thinking that if these guys, who weren't actually in space, got a bad sleep schedule, maybe now isn't the time to do so. Also, I agree with Izzy. Locked in a window less capsule for 2 years? Eek. Like Elena said, you need sleep, so it's probably best that we figure out a way for these people to stay healthy while in space before sending them on some dangerous mission.
I think that this was really informative, and interesting. I think that the astronauts' sleeping order got disorganized because there was less to do. If they were not in a confined area with not too many chores, or entertainment, or anything to keep them awake, then of course, there's nothing better to do than to sleep. This could actually be dangerous, because too much or too little sleep can (and probably will) mess up the way people think. For example, there is a law that truck drivers cannot drive for more than 8 hour intervals at a time, because then, they will not drive properly, then causing accidents. If they are in a small space with pretty much nothing to do while they're in the space ship, then once they really need to do something, like explore Mars, then they will not be working to the best of their abilities, which will then be a waste of a trip to Mars. I think that they should find a way to either travel just a little faster so that they won't be running into the sleeping problems for as long, or put something entertaining /something to do in the shuttle so they aren't sleeping all day.
I totally agree with Izzy. If I had to stay in a tiny little windowless room in close quarters with other people 24/7 for over a year, I would probably go crazy! Sleep is very important. It can affect people's health, and, perhaps more importantly on a mission to Mars, their alertness. If the people they send to Mars are like that guy who slept less every day, by the time they get to Mars, they'll be like walking zombies! It's the same with sleeping too much. If all an astronaut is doing is eating and sleeping (mostly sleeping), well, they'll have to be forced to wake up to go to Mars. When I'm forced to wake up, it usually takes me ten to twenty minutes to fully wake up. When they are in that in-between stage, the astronauts could fall 100,000,000 into a giant ditch or something! Maybe these irregular sleep patterns have something to do with the limited area of the space shuttle...
I'm glad that they did a test before actually sending men to Mars. That would be really dangerous. But I still feel sorry for those men who now have sleeping problems just to test if it's safe or not. I understand that if they really want to send men to Mars, doctors should invent some sort of medicine for the astronauts to take so they didn't have sleeping problems. I don't know how it must feel to have your schedule thrown off though, because if I wake up earlier or later than when I usually wake up, I will eventually quickly go back to when I normally wake up. For one thing, I know, like Elena said, if you get to much sleep or to little sleep for a couple of days, you can die. Overall, I think this article is very interesting and good because it teaches you not to mess with sleep. I give it an A.
Not getting enough sleep can actually kill you faster than not eating anything. Like Elena said, you won't function. To be honest, I don't even know how those men are alive! I would die if I were locked in that capsule for that long of a time period (well that could just be because I am medically proven to be highly claustrophobic). But, I'm not exactly sure how these men will function on Earth...Let's just hope they're okay...Overall, I would have liked this article to cover a few more topics. Other than that, I give this article an A-.
I agree with Elle. Not enough sleep can really hurt your immune system. You won't be able to function as well through out the day. They are in a small capsule and don't get a lot if sleep. I agree, I don't understand how these men are still alive. This article could have been more detailed and have more content. Overall, I give this article a B+.
This could really help astronauts and people go to faraway planets. This could really revolutionize sleeping chambers and space travel. Like Rachel said, this could hurt people and if people did not understand this, it could kill many people. I thought that this was pretty confusing but very awesome. I agree with Rachel also about the grade. This could have been much better, but all in all, great and useful, but poses dangers.
13 comments:
If you don't get enough sleep, it can be dangerous. You typically won't function correctly in your regular life. If you go a certain amount of days with NO sleep, you can die.
It is important for these astronauts going to Mars to sleep enough, because they need energy to conduct tests; however, if they sleep too much, they will get used to sleeping more often, and will become, as the article said, less alert. The man who became less alert will eventually get more sleep when he isn't testing in the small room, but you have to stay healthy while on a mission to Mars like this one.
If they were learning to "cope with living in close quarters," how will they function when they get back to "Earth"?
This article was very interesting. I loved it!
This article was actually quite interesting. I almost fainted when I heard that a few men were locked a windowless capsule for over 74 weeks (over a year) pretending that they were on a flight to mars. I definitely could not do that. You probably would assume that someone's sleep schedule would get thrown off if they were in that position. I know that my schedule gets thrown off when I go on vacation to a different time zone. Like Elena said what would happen when they got back to Earth.
Overall, this was pretty cool.
I agree with Elena that sleep is a vital thing in growing up and functioning. I already know that it is hard to live and sleep in a space shuttle. They were in the space shuttle for around 2 years. That must be horrible, especially if you are claustrophobic. (doubt anyone who would do that would be) I thought this article was pretty cool
I felt close to the same way as Izzy when I read that the men had to be in the tiny capsule for 74 weeks, which seems like a very long time, even for an experiment like this one. It is important to see what happens to people who experience conditions like that where they don't have a lot to do, though, so I can understand why the experiment was crucial to conduct. What I don't understand is why the people making space capsules like this one don't go into details such as decorations in the capsule and things that could distract the astronauts from sleeping. If you really think about it, the reason that we don't have crazy designs in our rooms or very brightly colored furniture such as neons or florescent lightbulbs (first, I am sorry if anyone reading this does have neon furniture, and second, the article didn't explain switching out florescent lightbulbs with blue ones, but the caption under the picture did, which I really didn't like), so scientists should really take away distractions before worrying about basic sleep patterns. After all, distractions will cause those sleep patterns to change and sleep to increase and decrease steadily. Overall, I don't really think that this article covered as much information as I would've liked. I really hope that there is another article on this sometime soon that covers more information because I think that space travel and the physics and things it can do to people is really interesting.
Interesting. I'm worried about those men though. Will they be all right? I'm thinking that if these guys, who weren't actually in space, got a bad sleep schedule, maybe now isn't the time to do so. Also, I agree with Izzy. Locked in a window less capsule for 2 years? Eek. Like Elena said, you need sleep, so it's probably best that we figure out a way for these people to stay healthy while in space before sending them on some dangerous mission.
I think that this was really informative, and interesting. I think that the astronauts' sleeping order got disorganized because there was less to do. If they were not in a confined area with not too many chores, or entertainment, or anything to keep them awake, then of course, there's nothing better to do than to sleep. This could actually be dangerous, because too much or too little sleep can (and probably will) mess up the way people think. For example, there is a law that truck drivers cannot drive for more than 8 hour intervals at a time, because then, they will not drive properly, then causing accidents. If they are in a small space with pretty much nothing to do while they're in the space ship, then once they really need to do something, like explore Mars, then they will not be working to the best of their abilities, which will then be a waste of a trip to Mars. I think that they should find a way to either travel just a little faster so that they won't be running into the sleeping problems for as long, or put something entertaining /something to do in the shuttle so they aren't sleeping all day.
I totally agree with Izzy. If I had to stay in a tiny little windowless room in close quarters with other people 24/7 for over a year, I would probably go crazy!
Sleep is very important. It can affect people's health, and, perhaps more importantly on a mission to Mars, their alertness. If the people they send to Mars are like that guy who slept less every day, by the time they get to Mars, they'll be like walking zombies! It's the same with sleeping too much. If all an astronaut is doing is eating and sleeping (mostly sleeping), well, they'll have to be forced to wake up to go to Mars. When I'm forced to wake up, it usually takes me ten to twenty minutes to fully wake up. When they are in that in-between stage, the astronauts could fall 100,000,000 into a giant ditch or something!
Maybe these irregular sleep patterns have something to do with the limited area of the space shuttle...
I'm glad that they did a test before actually sending men to Mars. That would be really dangerous. But I still feel sorry for those men who now have sleeping problems just to test if it's safe or not. I understand that if they really want to send men to Mars, doctors should invent some sort of medicine for the astronauts to take so they didn't have sleeping problems. I don't know how it must feel to have your schedule thrown off though, because if I wake up earlier or later than when I usually wake up, I will eventually quickly go back to when I normally wake up. For one thing, I know, like Elena said, if you get to much sleep or to little sleep for a couple of days, you can die.
Overall, I think this article is very interesting and good because it teaches you not to mess with sleep. I give it an A.
Not getting enough sleep can actually kill you faster than not eating anything. Like Elena said, you won't function. To be honest, I don't even know how those men are alive! I would die if I were locked in that capsule for that long of a time period (well that could just be because I am medically proven to be highly claustrophobic). But, I'm not exactly sure how these men will function on Earth...Let's just hope they're okay...Overall, I would have liked this article to cover a few more topics. Other than that, I give this article an A-.
I agree with Elena that without much sleep it could be very dangerous. Your body wouldn't know how to function.
I also agree that it would be a very dangerous mission
I agree with Elle. Not enough sleep can really hurt your immune system. You won't be able to function as well through out the day. They are in a small capsule and don't get a lot if sleep. I agree, I don't understand how these men are still alive. This article could have been more detailed and have more content. Overall, I give this article a B+.
This could really help astronauts and people go to faraway planets. This could really revolutionize sleeping chambers and space travel. Like Rachel said, this could hurt people and if people did not understand this, it could kill many people. I thought that this was pretty confusing but very awesome. I agree with Rachel also about the grade. This could have been much better, but all in all, great and useful, but poses dangers.
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