FILE This Nov. 4, 2011 file photo released by Moscow's Institute for Medical and Biological Problems Russia, shows researcher Sukhrob Kamolov leaving a set of windowless modules after a grueling 520-day simulation of a flight to Mars. Astronauts have a down-to-Earth problem that could be even worse on a long trip to Mars: They can't get enough sleep. And over time, the lack of slumber can turn intrepid space travelers into drowsy couch potatoes, a new study shows. In a novel experiment, six volunteers were confined in a cramped mock spaceship in Moscow to simulate a 17-month voyage. It made most of the would-be spacemen act like birds and bears heading into winter, gearing for hibernation. (AP Photo/IMBP, Oleg Voloshin, Pool, File)
Mock Mars trek finds down-to-Earth sleep woes
FILE This Nov. 4, 2011 file photo released by Moscow's Institute for Medical and Biological Problems Russia, shows researcher Sukhrob Kamolov leaving a set of windowless modules after a grueling 520-day simulation of a flight to Mars. Astronauts have a down-to-Earth problem that could be even worse on a long trip to Mars: They can't get enough sleep. And over time, the lack of slumber can turn intrepid space travelers into drowsy couch potatoes, a new study shows. In a novel experiment, six volunteers were confined in a cramped mock spaceship in Moscow to simulate a 17-month voyage. It made most of the would-be spacemen act like birds and bears heading into winter, gearing for hibernation. (AP Photo/IMBP, Oleg Voloshin, Pool, File)
By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science Writer /
January 7, 2013
Text Size:
- –
- +
Page 2 of 2 --
‘‘It’s kind of like you’re wiped out after New Year’s Eve, kind of like a hangover or something,’’ Linenger said. ‘‘You are aware you’re not performing. So I'd be extra careful if I had to switch some buttons.’’
Later in 1997, a cosmonaut on Mir who had a sleepless night accidentally disconnected a system that gathered solar power for the aging station, said Charles Czeisler, a sleep professor and space researcher at Harvard Medical School.
Czeisler, who wasn’t part of the Dinges study, said the new work was important in demonstrating the challenges of a Mars mission.
Astronauts do use sleeping pills to help them sleep.
And one solution experts like Dinges and Czeisler agree on is lighting. Blue evening light is essential for resetting a body’s natural rhythms, Czeisler said, and changing the color and timing of lighting has been shown to help people sleep on Earth.
___
Online:
Journal: http://www.pnas.org
___
Seth Borenstein can be followed at http://twitter.com/borenbears
© Copyright 2013 Globe Newspaper Company.
