Amna Al Ketbi (Dubai)
The Sirius mission is of great importance, due to its positive impact in studying the reasons for maintaining the safety and health of astronauts during long-term space exploration flights. Long-term space exploration, studying the effects of stress from confinement and isolation on circulatory and skeletal muscle function of crew members, while on a mission measuring clinical, genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic indices. But what happens when the gravitational factor wears off? What is the effect of this on human muscles?
When the human being is in an environment with microgravity, also called microgravity, as is the case during the stay of astronauts in the International Space Station, which orbits around the Earth at an altitude of approximately 400 km, the need for those supporting muscles is much reduced, due to Not having to make an effort to do physical and routine movements such as standing, walking and jumping, as well as lifting and carrying things, and this leads to muscle weakness and the occurrence of the so-called muscle atrophy, which leads to a decrease in the size of muscle fibers, with no clear change in the number of these fibers.
The adaptation of muscles to microgravity conditions does not have serious consequences in space, and astronauts do not need the same amount of strength to move and maintain their balance. But this adaptation causes problems when astronauts return to Earth’s surface, where the environment is fully gravitational, because their muscles and bones are too weak to function as they did before spaceflight.
Studies have shown that astronauts may experience a loss of 20% of muscle mass in space missions that last from five to eleven days and reach even higher in long-term missions, although muscle mass and strength can be restored once astronauts return to Earth. And adaptation to gravity, maintaining muscles in space is a concern, muscle atrophy negatively affects the abilities of astronauts during a space mission to perform activities that require physical effort, including activities outside the spacecraft as well as in emergency situations, and one of its symptoms is also, lack of Feeling comfortable, which may affect the astronauts psychologically and physically, which may pose a threat to their lives during the flight.
The only way to reduce the incidence of muscular dystrophy in space is to do intense exercises that include strength training.
Many global space agencies are conducting studies and research to understand the basic mechanisms and factors contributing to muscle atrophy and how to prevent this from happening, so that astronauts remain healthy during space flights, including trips to the International Space Station, trips to the moon and Mars, and also when returning to the gravity environment. Research in space on the effects of microgravity on muscles is an important part of these efforts, as research conducted on Earth is compared with research at the International Space Station, or with research using a system simulating conditions for space flights from Earth.
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