How Long-Term Space Travel Impacts Astronaut Health: Poor Sleep and Bad Skin

First Posted: Nov 03, 2015 10:20 AM EST

What happens to astronauts during long term space travel? Scientists are taking a closer look at astronaut health, and have found that sleeping pills and skin cream may just be key.

In this latest study, the researchers examined medications used by astronauts during long-duration missions to the International Space Station. The medications taken, unsurprisingly, were related to the unusual and confined microgravity environment in which they worked.

"We hope that this study will help NASA to prepare for astronauts' medical needs on long-duration spaceflight missions," said Virginia E. Wotring, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Knowing what medications to pack is essentially important before starting an exploration mission that may last three years."

The researchers looked at medical records of ISS crewmembers who gave permission to use their data in the study. They looked at the medications the ISS members used, the reasons they used them and how well they said the medicines worked.

So what did they find? The medication uses were very similar to what would be seen in any group of healthy adults on Earth. The usage was especially similar to that seen in any group of submarine crews, which also live in closed environments for months at a time.

What were the most common problems? The researchers found that the most issues were related to sleep problems and skin rashes. Currently, the scientists hope to further look at these issues to see if being in reduced gravity changes how medicines work.

"Getting a good night's sleep in space is a little trickier than you might think," said Gerald Weissman, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Not only do you have to deal with the discomfort of microgravity, but you also wake up to the fact that 'day' and 'night' are best experienced on a planet. As far as skin rashes are concerned, that should be no surprise either. Those are close quarters and things get itchy."

The findings are published in the FASEB Journal.

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TagsAstronaut, Astronauts, Space Travel, Long-term Space Travel, ISS, international space station, Mars, Health