NASA has recorded an eye condition in more than half of the astronauts who have worked on the International Space Station for six months or longer.
According to a report from The Times Hub, some became farsighted and needed help from some crew members while completing an experimental task, whereas some developed reading problems.
This is considered one of the most hazardous medical problems astronauts are experiencing. More so, some experts are even worried that it could jeopardize Mar missions.
To deal with the eye vision problem, scientists have devised a high-tech sleeping bag to prevent the condition astronauts living in space are suffering from.
High-Tech Sleeping Bag
An Amico Hoops report specified that at zero gravity, fluids are floating to the head, crushing the eyelids over time, and that's what the innovative sleeping bag is designed for to help astronauts deal with their eye vision problem.
The person responsible for the sleeping bag's invention, Indigenous Medicine Professor Benjamin Levine from the University of Texas Southern Medical Center, was also a seeker of the device at the ISS.
Levine, also director of Institute for Environmental and Exercise Medicine, a southwestern medicine program explained, how severe impacts of a long space flight "like two years of Mars surgery will be," remains unknown.
He also said that if the astronauts have a severe disability that makes it impossible for them to see what they are doing, it will be a major disaster, not to mention compromising the mission.
How It Works
The brain pressure of an individual lying on the ground may be slightly higher than that of a human in space; it softens when he stands up, which is never happening to astronauts at zero gravity.
The sleeping bag, created in collaboration with REI, outdoor equipment manufacture, fits around a person's waist and encloses the lower body in a rigid frame.
A suction device works on a similar principle as a vacuum cleaner, producing a pressure difference that draws fluid towards the feet. This prevents it from accumulating in the brain and develops hazardous pressure on the eye.
Before regularly using this new technology in space, it is essential to examine the time an astronaut needs to spend with the sleeping bag.
Tested and Proven Effective Technology
Cancer survivors contributed to the clarification of this condition. Twelve volunteers who participated in the study had ports on their heads to undergo chemotherapy and enabled the experts to measure their brain pressure on parabolic missions that replicated zero gravity for several seconds.
In this manner, the science experts took measurements of the volunteers lying down with or without a sleeping bag. After lying down for three days, the researchers discovered pressure to minimally change the eyelid's shape, although no such change took place when using the suction technology, Newsylist specified in a similar report.
Essentially, sock technology helps improve the condition of atrial fibrillation that results from microgravity, which is causing the heart to contract in space and, therefore, beat irregularly.
Related information about eye vision changes in astronauts is shown on CoconutScienceLab's YouTube video below:
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