ROOM
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Astronautics
Thus, there exists a potential for developing
a powerful synergy of information between
microgravity-induced deconditioning and bed
rest induced deconditioning in older people,
which could be useful in the development of
countermeasures in both conditions.
The parallels between the consequences of
aging and microgravity, and strategies that
apply spaceflight technology to help life on
Earth, especially in relation to bed-confined
older people should be further explored and
recommendations made that take into account
key factors such as (mal-) nutrition, (de-)
conditioning, muscle loss, cardiovascular and
vestibular effects, which arise in aging and/or
long term bed confinement.
A full list of references supporting this article is
available on request.
About the authors
Assoc. Prof Nandu Goswami,
MBBS, PhD., is a cardiovascular
physiologist with interests in cardiovascular regulation, autonomic
function, cerebral blood flow and orthostatic intolerance. As orthostatic
intolerance occurs in older people and astronauts, Dr Goswami
combines research related to falls with spaceflight research. He is the
director of ‘Gravitational Physiology, Aging and Medicine’ Research
Unit at the Medical University of Graz, Austria, and a member of
the European Innovative Partnership Active and Healthy Aging and
International Academy of Astronautics.
Helmut G. Hinghofer-Szalkay
headed the Institute for Physiology
(2000-2013) and was founder and director of the Institute for Adaptive
and Spaceflight Physiology in Graz (1994-2010). He was ESA Research
Fellow at the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California
(1984-85), organised the 3rd European Symposium on Life Sciences
Research in Space 1987 and a Space Life Sciences Symposium 1992. He
was Principal Investigator of an Austro-Russian experiment on MIR
space station (1991 and 1994), headed the 4th International Head-Out
Water Immersion Symposium 1999 and the 15. IAA Humans in Space
Symposium 2005. He received a NASA Space Act Tech Brief Award
(1986) and the Yuri-Gagarin-Decoration (1999).
Amal Ezzeddine
is a senior executive with over 22 years of
experience across many disciplines serving the government
and private sectors. She has been working with Thuraya
Telecommunications as Senior Director for Government & Corporate
Affairs since 2012 where she works with governments in Europe,
Australasia and MENA at both policy and tactical levels to position
Thuraya as their key satellite communication provider in times of
war, conflict, disasters and in peace. Amal is part of the core team
which established the UAE Space Agency (UAESA). She has also
worked closely with the United Nations and other humanitarian
organizations and NGOs to provide satellite communications for
disaster response and management.
readmission after hospital discharge, early
dependency and institutionalisation, and finally,
increased mortality.
Spaceflight data have shown that resistance
exercise, together with proper nutrition, including
Vitamin D, is effective in maintaining physiological
functionality in astronauts during spaceflights of
up to six months’ duration (Smith et al., 2012).
The evidence regarding the beneficial role
of nutrition alone in older people, however, is
limited (Muscaritoli et al., 2016). Strandberg
et al. (1985) reported that nutritional therapy,
along with resistance training, improves
muscle mass in older people. A further study
showed that high protein diet increases lean
tissue mass and muscle strength when it is
complemented with resistive training in older
women (Daly et al., 2014).
These observations indicate that knowledge
obtained from space research can provide guidance
towards optimising/supplementing the effects
of physical exercises via additional nutritional
supplements and/or pharmacological interventions,
which could represent key innovations in tackling
bed-confined deconditioning, especially in older
people (see Hackney et al., 2015).
Future perspectives
The intersection of understanding of human
physiology under microgravity conditions and
during the aging process allows for each of these
physiological conditions to provide insight into the
other and allows for development of new insights
and strategies of intervention.
As we have seen, bed rest studies in
addition to simulating spaceflight-induced
deconditioning can be designed and used
for investigation of the various physiological
conditions that arise due to bed-confinement
that occurs frequently in older people due to
surgery, injury or chronic debilitating diseases.
Strategies that apply spaceflight technology to help
life on Earth, especially in relation to bed-confined
older persons, should be further explored
ESA
ESA
A person doing resistive
vibration exercise while in
six degree head down tilt
position.
