Good day to you all and thanks for visiting my blog and for upvoting my last post. It is cool having you here again.

Today, I will be discussing the adverse effects of a long-term weightlessness on our body. The last post talked about the reason why you feel weight lost but it failed to consider the effect of the physical phenomenon on the body. Also, the post emphasized the short term loss in weight of a body which does not pose any adverse effect on our body because our body regained its weight after a short period of time it was lost. A long-term weightlessness is known with some advert effects such as muscle Atrophy and Spaceflight Osteopenia also known as deterioration of the skeleton. That's exactly what we'll be discussing.

By NASA - Public Domain Astronaut floating away

Lets have a recap of the last post.

What we learned in the last post
From an experience shared, we learned that it is not advisable to wear or put on a pointed high heeled shoe in an elevator because the shoe will make contact with the floor of the elevator with a reduced or small surface area. The reduced surface area will cause a reduction in the frictional force which is to balance up the forward force in case the individual in the elevator experiences a slide caused by the movement of the elevator.

The misconception of the basic principle why a person in a descending elevator will experience a weight loss (weightlessness). There was a misconception before now that for a body to experience a loss of weight, the force of gravity of such body must be equal to zero. The last post made us conclude that the force responsible for weight loss of a body in a descending elevator is the normal force (upward force) acting on the body, a body experiences weightlessness when the normal force acting on such body is equal zero and not when the gravitational force of the body is zero.

Besides, the gravitational force on a body on earth cannot be equal to zero. Click here to read more.

Image created by me

The post also reminded us the differences between a gravitational force and the normal force. The normal force is a contact force, a contact force can be felt because our body can be in touch with such force. For example, When we sit on a chair, there is an upward force from the chair pushing us up that makes us not to fall, that force that holds us in a position on the chair is the normal force I am talking about, It is also known as reactant force. The gravitational force, on the other hand, is the kind of force acting at distance, it's not a contact force so we cannot feel it.

This is awesome, right? Let's meddle in the business of the day

Adverse Health effects of long-term weightlessness

It is heart suiting to experience weightlessness shortly (minute seconds) if you have ever experienced it before but it sounds cool and pleasant to experience a long-time loss of weight, maybe weeks or months, as experienced by Astronauts. At least one will not be struggling with the body weight due to gravitational pull, it feels relaxing not to feel any weight on my feet.

Let me share the life story of one of the renounce America woman Astronauts.
Heidemarie Martha Stefanyshyn Piper was one of the American women astronauts, she studied at MIT where she bagged her bachelor degree and master degree in mechanical engineering, and she was commissioned as a diving and salvage officer from MIT's Navy ROTC. She worked as a diving and salvage officer for like eleven years, at the time of service she was trained to become an Astronaut.

By NASA -Public Domain, the portrait of Heidemarie Martha Stefanyshyn Piper

During an interview, Heidemarie Martha Stefanyshyn Piper revealed that though everyone knows that space is dangerous, she chose to become an Astronaut to help her career. Heidemarie Martha Stefanyshyn Piper said, I was trained to be a deep-sea diver to fix ships under the sea, so I believe that I should be able to fix ships in space.

Heidemarie Martha Stefanyshyn Piper was tranked based on duration as the 39th spacewalker when she made complete five spacewalks total to be 33hours and 42 minutes. Due to her various works and achievements as an Astronaut, she received numerous honors and awards, some of the awards and honors include; Award as the 39th spacewalker on all-time list of walkers, two naval achievement medals two commendation medals, meritorious service medal, a mission specialist award because she was the 8th woman Astronauts to perform spacewalk, One of the female astronauts captains US Navy, the 12th expedition commander of NASA extreme environmental mission operations, to mention but few. She flew on two space shuttle mission; the STS-115, and The STA-126.

It was reported that Heidemarie Martha Stefanyshyn Piper collapsed twice during the welcome home ceremony after she returned from the STA-126. During her welcome speech, she collapsed the first time, after a while, she regained her strength, within a short period of time, she looked confused and then she collapsed again. Heidemarie Martha Stefanyshyn Piper collapsed because her body system was just readjusting to conditions on earth due to combined effects of conditions in space on her body, reported by Glenn Piper, her husband.

By NASA -Public Domain, effect of weightlessness on fluid distribution around the body

There are various physical and mental effects of weightlessness as experienced by Astronauts in space which can either be Temporary health effect or Permanent health effects. The temporary health effects are listed as follows; Confusion of the sense of up and down, the vestibular system get confused for a while. There is a disruption in the proprioceptive system that ensures a correct orientation of arms and legs to the part of the body, you will feel as if your leg and hands are no longer in their position again. Experiencing a feeling of an unsettled stomach for few days.

Astronauts in a long-term visit to space experience a condition of osteoporosis, which makes them susceptible to fracture, it increases the risk of bone breaking which is as a result of a loss of calcium content of the bone. Reduction in body weight makes the bone weak. They also suffer from muscle Atrophy which is described as the reduction in muscle mass. This occurs when an individual permanently or partially suffers from a disability usually caused by a restriction of movement. It is also considered as shielding of muscles that are not put to use since Astronauts don't really need their muscles because they don't use them.

Some other significant effects of long-term weightlessness include; weakening of immune system, sight disorder, balance disorder, reduction in red blood cells production, and reduction of cardiovascular system functionality which in turn reduces the aerobic exercise capacity. weightlessness alters fluid distribution around the body.

By NASA - Public Domain,astronaut Frank De Winne is attached to the COLBERT with bungee cords

Conclusion

An Advanced Resistive Exercise Devices have been provided to space stations to ensure that the Astronauts on spacewalk get their muscle exercised. Exercise schedule has been made for all Astronauts on spacewalk every day so that they can maintain their muscle mass needed to function on earth. The exercise includes weightlifting. This reduces the effects of weightlessness on their body system and makes the recover their health easily when they finally arrived on earth.

Astronauts spend at least 2 hours every day on tissue supporting device. The device consists of two treadmills (a COLBERT with bungee cords), The bungee cords are made up of elastic wearable pants which are attached between waistband and cuffs to compress the leg bones of Astronauts and thereby reduces osteopenia. The device is also referred to asTreadmillss with vibration Isolation Stabilization system.

References

1. https://www.space.com/23017-weightlessness.html
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_spaceflight_on_the_human_body
3. https://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/SP-4026/noord28.html
4. https://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/SP-4026/noord28.html
5. http://www.businessinsider.com/human-body-health-effects-of-space-2015-3?IR=T
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidemarie_Stefanyshyn-Piper
7. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/astronaut-collapses-during-ceremony/