Public 'Pillownauts' help future human missions to Mars - research into bed rest

"Scientists at the University of Nottingham are enlisting the help of 'pillownauts' to push back the boundaries of space travel in a new study to examine a potentially serious adverse effect of weightlessness on the human body.

The 3-day bed rest study is being carried out in Nottingham in parallel to a 60-day bed rest study by the European Space Agency at the MEDES facility in Toulouse, France. Bed rest is a tried and tested way to measure the effects of weightlessness on the human body which include bone and muscle mass loss, cardiovascular decline and impaired carbohydrate metabolism which could be a risk for type 2 diabetes.

Many astronauts come back to Earth from space showing signs of pre-diabetes because weightlessness can lead to insulin resistance whereby the muscles and liver can't absorb glucose to help regulate blood sugar levels. The Nottingham study is specifically aiming to find out how quickly we develop insulin resistance from prolonged bed rest, and what are the mechanisms driving this harmful effect."

thought this was interesting.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180208144419.htm

eta: The study is being carried out as part of the work of the MRC Arthritis Research UK Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research and is funded by the BBSRC.

 

Well at least that's one way of getting some research on bedridden people which we can apply to the neglected community in me/Cfs. I've been bedridden for years and never had told me anything about insulIn resistance as a consequence or given any advice on diet because of it which surely might be advised? As a positive they're checking if an antioxidant supplement can help reverse some of the harmful eff cts; on a questioning note they're choosing ten men only (maybe for homogenous sample as ten patients only ) and on a negative note for fellow bed bounders :-

"Indeed, many of the effects currently attributable to ageing across our life course are most likely caused by decreasing physical activity levels that accompany ageing."

 

This makes me wonder about declining health in nursing home residents who are kept in bed most of the time.