After Going to Space, You Need to Spend At Least Three Years on Earth Recovering From Brain Damage

Space travel is one of the worst things your body can experience. Spending time in zero-g can cause bones to decalcify, muscles to atrophy, the immune system to weaken, the eye to flatten slightly and the optic nerve to swell. Time in space also exposes the human body to unhealthy doses of cosmic radiation, which can increase the lifetime risk of cancer. Now, astronauts have another part of their body to worry about: the brain. According to a new paper published in Scientific Reports, too much time aloft can cause the brain’s ventricles—cavities filled with cerebrospinal fluid that cushion the brain, nourish tissue, and remove waste—to swell significantly. After astronauts return to Earth, the condition resolves itself only slowly—so slowly in fact that the authors of the paper recommend that all astronauts remain earthbound for extended periods before they are cleared for flight again. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “We found that the more time people spent in space the larger their ventricles became,” said Rachel Seidler, professor of applied physiology and kinesiology at the University of Florida and one of the authors of the study, in a statement. “Many astronauts travel to space more than one time, and our study shows it takes about three years between flights for the ventricles to fully recover.” More from TIME [video id=UUoxwYSx autostart="viewable"] Seidler and her 10 co-authors conducted their work using...
Source: TIME: Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Space Source Type: news