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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here. When we settle into our

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Speaker 1: beds at night, we usually experience a pleasant sense of

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Speaker 1: unburdening after a long day of walking, sitting and standing,

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Speaker 1: letting gravity do the work, and sinking into a soft

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Speaker 1: mattress can be a relief. But over two hundred miles

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Speaker 1: or three kilometers above the Earth, astronauts live and work

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Speaker 1: in microgravity aboard the International Space Station, and going to

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Speaker 1: sleep in microgravity presents a much different situation. Cruise on

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Speaker 1: the I S S may live in space for hundreds

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Speaker 1: of days at a stretch, and the details of each

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Speaker 1: day are scheduled beforehand. For example, a typical week day

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Speaker 1: for the crew of Expedition eighteen eighteen permanent crew of

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Speaker 1: the I S S began with a wake up call

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Speaker 1: at six a m u t C E t C

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Speaker 1: being the same as GMT, which is used to reduce

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Speaker 1: time zone confusion among countries. That was followed by ninety

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Speaker 1: minutes of time for eating breakfast and getting ready for

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Speaker 1: the day. By seven thirty a m. The crew had

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Speaker 1: conference calls with each country's control center and embarked on

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Speaker 1: a morning of science experiments, maintenance, and small chores. Following

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Speaker 1: an hour for lunch, the crew was back to work

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Speaker 1: along with more exercise, with one final planning conference call

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Speaker 1: with each control center. The day wrapped up around five

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Speaker 1: thirty or six p m, followed by dinner at eight

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Speaker 1: p m and bedtime at nine thirty. After all that,

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Speaker 1: the least an astronaut could ask for is a good

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Speaker 1: night's sleep, but even the idea of night changes when

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Speaker 1: you're in space. Orbiters zoom around the Earth multiple times

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Speaker 1: a day, and with the effects of microgravity and weightlessness,

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Speaker 1: even the quality of sleep in space is different from

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Speaker 1: that on Earth. Spacecraft like the ISSS have pressurized cabins

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Speaker 1: and are filled with the same kind of air we

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Speaker 1: breathe on Earth, and the atmosphere on board is made

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Speaker 1: to feel as close to sea level as possible, but

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Speaker 1: microgravity causes astronauts to experience the effects of near weightlessness.

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Speaker 1: Setting up a traditional earthly bed cot or hammock can't

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Speaker 1: be part of the plan because the astronaut and the

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Speaker 1: sleeping surface itself would drift off as the astronaut you know,

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Speaker 1: drifted off. Most of the crew on the I S

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Speaker 1: S choose to sleep in their own cabin or in

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Speaker 1: an I S S module. American crew members sleeping quarters

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Speaker 1: are soundproof, private cabin for one set ups where an

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Speaker 1: astronaut can not only catch some z s, but also

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Speaker 1: catch up on email. The catch is that they need

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Speaker 1: to tether themselves to something to avoid floating away. Most

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Speaker 1: astronauts choose sleeping bags tethered to the floor, the walls,

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Speaker 1: or the ceiling, though in the microgravity environment there's no

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Speaker 1: such thing as up, which means it's just as easy

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Speaker 1: to sleep vertically as you would horizontally back home. It's

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Speaker 1: also important to secure your arms and legs to avoid

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Speaker 1: them hovering off and hitting other objects as you sleep.

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Speaker 1: Adjusting to sleeping in space takes a long time for astronauts.

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Speaker 1: Our bodies and brains are used to certain circadian rhythms

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Speaker 1: the twenty four hour cycle of waking and sleeping, and

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Speaker 1: disturbing them can cause sleep difficulties, which in turn can

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Speaker 1: impact your mood, how well you concentrate, and how much

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Speaker 1: energy you have, as well as how healthy your body is.

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Speaker 1: The chronic sleep deprivation can lead to an increased risk

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Speaker 1: of conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and hypertension, so to

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Speaker 1: avoid any distracting light and heat from the sun, astronauts

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Speaker 1: will cover up any windows they may be near. Astronauts

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Speaker 1: also often choose to wear sleep masks, the same as

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Speaker 1: we might wear on Earth when we want to shut

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Speaker 1: out distracting light. There's noise to be contended with. Two.

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Speaker 1: Because fans, air filters, and other equipment provides life support

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Speaker 1: to the astronauts, the I s S is filled with

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Speaker 1: constant whirring noises a continual hum. Astronauts sometimes sleep with

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Speaker 1: earplugs too dampen the sound, but after a while, many

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Speaker 1: reports they just get used to it. Combine the light

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Speaker 1: and the noise with the unnatural feeling of floating motion, sickness,

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Speaker 1: aches and pains, relatively poor ventilation and temperature control, as

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Speaker 1: well as a new sunrise every ninety minutes, being the

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Speaker 1: amount of time it takes for the space station to

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Speaker 1: circumnavigate the Earth. Insomnia and sleep deprivation are a common

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Speaker 1: and serious problem for humans in space. NASA reports that

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Speaker 1: sleeping pills are the second most common drug astronauts take

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Speaker 1: after pain killers to help combat astronaut insomnia. NASA also

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Speaker 1: budgets at least eight hours of Sleep every Day, promotes

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Speaker 1: relaxation techniques, and provides sleep hygiene education. But despite it all,

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Speaker 1: astronauts average between thirty to sixty minutes less sleep each

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Speaker 1: night than they get at home on Earth. Something like

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Speaker 1: nine million earth bound Americans rely on prescriptions sleep inducing

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Speaker 1: medication to get a decent night's sleep, and that's not

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Speaker 1: even counting those of us who try tease over the

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Speaker 1: counter remedies or suffer through it. But it seems that

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Speaker 1: this is a common human denominator. Insomnia plag exists in

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Speaker 1: space too. Today's episode is based on the article what

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Speaker 1: is it Like to Sleep in Space? On how stuff

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Speaker 1: Works dot com, written by John Fuller and Maria Treemarchi.

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Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio in partnership

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Speaker 1: with how stuff Works dot Com, and it's produced by

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Speaker 1: Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio visit the

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