Physical Wellness

Human Beings Not Fit For Space

By Kamal Nayan | Update Date: Jan 28, 2014 10:03 AM EST

Humans are not fit for outer space and spending more time could lead to long-term implications in the body, according to a report by New York Times. 

An average human body consisted 60 percent of water and in outer space the body fluids float upward into the chest and head. In the free fall of space legs atrophy, faces puff and pressure inside the skull also rises. 

"Your head actually feels bloated," said Mark E. Kelly, a retired NASA astronaut who flew on four space shuttle missions, according to NYT. "It kind of feels like you would feel if you hung upside down for a couple of minutes."

However the human body has not evolved to cope complications occurring in space and are also not easy to cure. Therefore, NASA will now be monitoring the long-term implications of spending time in outer space. 

Such problems are now also being compared to other complications such as brittling of bone and eating and sleeping deficiencies. Some of these have been addressed already while on others NASA is working to understand and solve them. 

The report noted, the longest any human has been in space was for 438 days during 1994-95 by Dr. Valery Polyakov of Russia. 

Another heath problem that was identified by doctors five years ago was the squashed eyeballs of some astronauts. In 2009, during a 24-week stay on the International Space Station (ISS), two astronauts Dr. Michael R. Barratt (a NASA astronaut and physician) and Dr. Robert B. Thirsk (a Canadian astronaut and physician) had to perform eye tests on each other as they both discovered they had trouble seeing things close up. Although the issues were reported by other astronauts, not much information is available regarding the cause. 

NASA has already announced the continued operation of the International Space Station at least until 2024 (in part for additional medical research). The agency has assured that it will be keeping a close eye on the health of Scott J. Kelly, an American astronaut who plans to spend one year on the ISS in the spring of 2015. 

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