By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Irizflick MediaIrizflick Media
  • Irizflick Updates
  • Blog
  • Celebrity
  • Entertainment
  • Science
  • Movies
  • News
  • Technology
Search
  • Contact
  • CCPA – California Consumer Privacy Act
  • Cookies Policy
  • COPPA – Children’s Online Privacy Policy
  • DMCA
  • GDPR Cookie Policy
  • GDPR Privacy Policy
© 2019 Irizflick Media. Irizflick Technologies OPC Private Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Lost in space: astronauts struggle to regain bone density
Share
Aa
Irizflick MediaIrizflick Media
Aa
  • Irizflick Updates
  • Blog
  • Celebrity
  • Entertainment
  • Science
  • Movies
  • News
  • Technology
Search
  • Irizflick Updates
  • Blog
  • Celebrity
  • Entertainment
  • Science
  • Movies
  • News
  • Technology
Follow US
  • Contact
  • CCPA – California Consumer Privacy Act
  • Cookies Policy
  • COPPA – Children’s Online Privacy Policy
  • DMCA
  • GDPR Cookie Policy
  • GDPR Privacy Policy
© 2019 Irizflick Media. Irizflick Technologies OPC Private Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Irizflick Media > Blog > Science > Lost in space: astronauts struggle to regain bone density
Science

Lost in space: astronauts struggle to regain bone density

irizflick
irizflick 07/01/2022 95 Views
Updated 2022/07/03 at 1:06 PM
Share
5 Min Read
SHARE

Pre­vi­ous research has shown that astro­nauts lose between one and two per­cent of their bone den­si­ty with every month they spend in space, as the lack of grav­i­ty takes the strain off their legs when stand­ing and walking.

Astro­nauts lose decades of bone mass in space, which many don’t recov­er even after a year on Earth, researchers said Thurs­day, warn­ing it could be a “big prob­lem” for future mis­sions to Mars.

Pre­vi­ous research has shown that astro­nauts lose between one and two per­cent of their bone den­si­ty with every month they spend in space, as the lack of grav­i­ty takes the strain off their legs when stand­ing and walking.

To find out how astro­nauts recov­er once they’re back on the ground, a new study scanned the wrists and ankles of 17 astro­nauts before, dur­ing and after a stay on the Inter­na­tion­al Space Station.

The bone den­si­ty lost by astro­nauts is equiv­a­lent to the amount they would lose in sev­er­al decades if they were back on Earth, said study co-author Steven Boyd of Canada’s Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­gary and direc­tor of the McCaig Insti­tute for Bone and Joint Health.

The researchers found that after a year on Earth, nine of the astro­nauts still had­n’t ful­ly recov­ered their tib­ia den­si­ty — and they were still miss­ing about a decade’s worth of bone mass.

The astro­nauts on the longest mis­sions, last­ing between four and sev­en months on the ISS, recov­ered the slowest.

“The longer you’re in space, the more bones you lose,” Boyd told AFP.

Boyd said it was a “big con­cern” for planned future mis­sions to Mars, which could see astro­nauts spend­ing years in space.

“Will it get worse over time or not? We don’t know,” he said.

“It’s pos­si­ble that after a while we’ll reach a sta­ble state, or it’s pos­si­ble that we’ll con­tin­ue to lose bone. But I can’t imag­ine we’ll keep los­ing bones until there’s noth­ing left.”

A 2020 mod­el study pre­dict­ed that on a three-year space flight to Mars, 33 per­cent of astro­nauts would be at risk of osteoporosis.

Boyd said some answers may come from research cur­rent­ly being con­duct­ed on astro­nauts who have spent at least a year aboard the ISS.

Guillemette Gauquelin-Koch, head of med­ical research at the French space agency CNES, said the weight­less­ness expe­ri­enced in space was “the most dras­tic phys­i­cal inac­tiv­i­ty there is”.

“Even if you exer­cise for two hours a day, you’re like bedrid­den for the remain­ing 22 hours,” says the doc­tor, who was not involved in the study.

“It won’t be easy for the crew to set foot on Mar­t­ian soil when they arrive — it’s very disabling.”

“The Silent Disease”

The new study, pub­lished in Sci­en­tif­ic Reports, also showed how space trav­el changes the struc­ture of the bones themselves.

Boyd said if you think of the bones of a body like the Eif­fel Tow­er, it’s as if some of the con­nect­ing met­al rods that hold the struc­ture were lost.

“And when we return to Earth, we thick­en what’s left, but we don’t cre­ate new rods,” he said.

Some exer­cis­es are bet­ter for main­tain­ing bone mass than oth­ers, the study found.

Dead­lifts proved sig­nif­i­cant­ly more effec­tive than run­ning or cycling, it said, and sug­gest­ed doing more heavy low­er-body exer­cis­es in the future.

But the astro­nauts — who are most­ly fit and in their 40s — did­n’t notice the dras­tic bone loss, Boyd said, point­ing out that the Earth-bound equiv­a­lent of osteo­poro­sis is known as “the silent disease.”

Cana­di­an astro­naut Robert Thirsk, who has spent the most time in space, said his bones and mus­cles took the longest to recov­er after space flight.

“But with­in a day of land­ing, I felt com­fort­able as an earth­ling again,” he said in a state­ment accom­pa­ny­ing the research.

You Might Also Like

Ancient Aliens: TOP 4 MESMERIZING ALIEN STRUCTURES

Apple Announces WWDC23 Will Take Place on June 5 #shorts

Artemis II Astronaut Announcement: April 3, 2023 (Official NASA Trailer)

The Proof is Out There: HUGE Australian Lake Monster Spotted by Family (S3)

Top 3 DYNAMIC DUOS of ALL Time | History’s GOAT with Peyton Manning (S1)

TAGGED: Astronaut Bone Density, astronauts, bone, bone density in space, density, Earth, heaviness, International Space Station, lack of gravity, lost, Mars, place, regain, space, struggle
irizflick 07/01/2022
Share this Article
Facebook TwitterEmail Print
Share
Previous Article Rashtra Kavach Om Review: Aditya Roy Kapur Hugs His Arnie Avatar In Crazy Movie
Next Article Travis Barker Receives Support From Ex-Wife Shanna Moakler After His Hospitalization
Leave a comment Leave a comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

one × one =

Stay Connected

13.3k Followers Like
9.1k Followers Follow
56.4k Followers Follow
7k Subscribers Subscribe

Recent Updates

Fire power with #Thanaro | #Kasargold | #AsifAli #SunnyWayne #Vinayakan | #Shorts #YTshorts
Entertainment 03/31/2023
Yes, that is a terrible mistake Anarkali Marikar
Celebrity 03/31/2023
Susamma Talks & Thadikkaran Exclusive Interview | English Love Story | Viral Stars| Milestone Makers
Celebrity 03/31/2023
Ancient Aliens: TOP 4 MESMERIZING ALIEN STRUCTURES
Science 03/31/2023

Top Posts

SuperStar Singer Season 2: Singing Ka Kal | Tum Hi Ho | Ab Tere Bin | Dil Ka Aalam | Bhatt Special
Entertainment
How to Add Subtitles to Your Video: Step-by-Step Tutorial
Technology
Samsung Galaxy S23 Review — TOP 5 reasons to SKIP the Ultra
Technology
Dumdaar Khiladi YT Short Video | Ram Pothineni | Anupama Parameswaran | Aditya Movies
Movies

You Might also Like

Science

Ancient Aliens: TOP 4 MESMERIZING ALIEN STRUCTURES

03/31/2023
Technology

Apple Announces WWDC23 Will Take Place on June 5 #shorts

03/30/2023
Science

Artemis II Astronaut Announcement: April 3, 2023 (Official NASA Trailer)

03/29/2023
Science

The Proof is Out There: HUGE Australian Lake Monster Spotted by Family (S3)

03/29/2023
Irizflick MediaIrizflick Media
Follow US

© 2019 Irizflick Media. Irizflick Technologies OPC Private Limited. All Rights Reserved.

  • About Us
  • Blog
  • Blog Comments Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Earnings Disclaimer
  • FB Policy
  • Linking Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Removed from reading list

Undo
irizflick logo, official logo of irizflick irizflick logo, official logo of irizflick
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?