It seems astronauts hovering in weightless environments and earthlings reclining in front of the TV share a surprising trait: both avoid the effects of gravity 鈥 and both age rapidly as a result.
Now a unique joint venture between Canada鈥檚 health-research and space agencies is investigating the parallels between space flight and terrestrial aging, hoping to find ways to prevent the ill effects of each.
Astronauts and inactive older people suffer similar bone loss, muscle atrophy, blood-vessel changes and even fainting spells, say scientists, and their respective conditions can provide lessons for both domains.
Space flight is the ultimate in sedentary lifestyle
鈥淭o me, there really are a lot of overlaps,鈥 said Richard Hughson, a University of 蓝莓视频 expert on vascular aging and brain health. 鈥淪pace flight is the ultimate in sedentary lifestyle. When you鈥檙e up in space, you鈥檙e floating around, when you want to move a heavy object, you just give it a little push and away it goes.鈥
See Researchers hope the secret to aging gracefully is in outer聽space article in National Post.