Astronauts Exercising in Outer Space

Everyone needs to stay in shape through exercise and proper diet, even astronauts. Not only for their own health, but the health and efficiency of the entire crew, astronauts must participate in a rigorous exercise and diet program, particularly for long space missions.

Dr. Benjamin D. Levine, one of the experts who develops the regimens, said, "Exercise has long been considered a solution for many of the health problems encountered in space. In addition to psychological benefits, it preserves physical fitness, circulatory function, and bone and muscle strength. To combat potentially mission-compromising health challenges, we're focusing on developing individualized exercise regimens using the equipment available in space to produce the most collective benefit to the body."

Part of the problem with exercising in space, however, is that since there is little to no gravity, traditional weightlifting and cardiovascular workouts would have little to no effect on the astronauts. Thus, through years of research, Levine and his crew have been trying to find the optimal regimen in concordance with the outer space environment.

In order to do that, he and his researchers have been conducting their regimen tests on subjects confined to bed-rest, which simulates the weightless environment of outer space. According to Dr. Levine, exercise programs would have different effects on the body, because the muscles aren't working as hard to support the body weight and since the heart is working at 15%-20% less than here on Earth.