03/17/2016

Journal Article Essay

Matthew Kundis

Astronauts and Bone Density

Journal Article
One of mankinds greatest goals is to make it somewhere in space
besides the moon which we landed on in 1969. One of the issues holding us
back, is the overall bone loss an astronaut can have in the amount of time it
would take to travel to mars or a near-earth asteroid. Space travel seems to
be an exciting future for astronauts and mankind. However, each month in
space, astronauts lose approximately 1% of the mineral density. We are
going to explore this issue of space while specifically focusing on the
experiment set up in this scientific article. Why does this happen? How can
we counter it? How big of an effect does it have? Lets discuss this very
interesting topic.
To begin with, understanding how microgravity disrupts osteoblast
function is important for human space exploration, as well as for patients on
earth experiencing extended bed rest or disuse osteoporosis. Without the
constant pressure of gravity pushing against our bodies, we tend to lose
some of our bone density. That is an easier way to look at it. Think about how
astronauts become taller when they have been in space. This is because
when an astronaut is in space they no longer have that constant resistance
from gravity pushing against their spine. In the absence of gravity, the spine
lengthens in the body adding inches to the persons height. Its a cool

03/17/2016

Journal Article Essay

Matthew Kundis

concept and really makes you see just how important it actually is to have
gravity on earth.
Osteoporosis is defined as a medical condition in which the bones
become brittle and fragile from loss of tissue, typically as a result of
hormonal changes, or deficiency of calcium or vitamin D. This may make
you think that all you have to do to counteract osteoporosis is to ingest more
calcium or vitamin D, but this is not the case. In the article it sheds light on
how our astronauts currently take many measures to counteract the
development of osteoporosis.
Lets consider all of the things astronauts currently do to counteract
bone loss. NASA astronauts do various resistance training exercises every
day they are in space with no gravity. Not only this, but our astronauts are
given an extremely regulated and watched diet that is high in protein,
vitamin D, and calcium. You would think that this would stop the bone less,
however this is not the case. I do believe that is slows down the effects of
being in space, but it does not even come close to completing eliminating
the threat of no gravity on the human body.
We can see the same issue in people who arent even in space. Many
people in our world unfortunately are stuck on bed rest. If you are very ill or
injured, you most of the time cant even walk. This constant resting state has
a huge affect on the human body. Yes, there is gravity on earth, but it does
you no good if you are not moving or standing up. If you are injured or too ill,
you probably wouldnt even be able to do the resistance training that has

03/17/2016

Journal Article Essay

Matthew Kundis

shown to decrease the effects of osteoporosis, your body would have

tremendous bone loss. The best thing you could do is try and make sure that
there diet is maximized for calcium and vitamin D. However, without
combining both Vitamin D and calcium with resistance training for the
muscles to strengthen the bones, the person on extended bed rest would
end up worse than the astronaut who has spend 18 months in space. 18
months in space while taking all the known measures to counteract bone
loss, would end up losing almost 20% of his current bone density. Think of
how much easier it would be to break a bone or to become injured. You
would lose a lot of muscle mass and Im sure your body would produce a lot
of fat because it wouldnt know what to do with all of the carbs and energy
you arent using except for some resistance training. There is only so much
you can do in space for resistance training with there being no gravity.
Bands, and stretches are about as far as they could go. If there got weights
up on their space station it would just be very dense but light objects floating
in space with endless inertia.
Hopefully, as this article brings to light, we can develop more ways
with supplements and possibly medications to pro long the amount of time a
human can be in space. Humans have been looking at traveling to mars for a
long time and I believe we are not too far away from this. With our current
space technologies we could travel to mars but it would take an estimated 2
years for man to reach mars. It would be silly to spend two years to travel to
mars when the astronaut would lose a quarter of his bone density. Hopefully,

03/17/2016

Journal Article Essay

Matthew Kundis

we can develop a machine that can minimize the effects of bone density loss
in space so humans can develop deeper into the unexplored space that we
are all so curious about.

Citations:
Shiba, Naoto, Hiroo Matsuse, Yoshio Takano, Kazuhiro Yoshimitsu,
Masayuki Omoto, Ryuki Hashida, Yoshihiko Tagawa, Tomohisa Inada,
Shin Yamada, and Hiroshi Ohshima. "Electrically Stimulated
Antagonist Muscle Contraction Increased Muscle Mass and Bone
Mineral Density of One Astronaut - Initial Verification on the
International Space Station."PLOS ONE PLoS ONE 10.8 (2015): n.
pag. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.

Jurgens, Ron P. "Spaceflight Osteopenia." Wikipedia.

Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.