Can Tai Chi intervention improve the level of emotional regulation of crew members in the Controlled Ecological Life Support System?

To explore the appropriate exercise methods and means for astronauts in confined and small isolation conditions, a set of Tai Chi suitable for the spaceflight workforce was created, with the aim of discovering the practical effects of Tai Chi and providing a scientific basis for the subsequent development of new astronaut health maintenance techniques with Chinese characteristics. Using the Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) as a research platform, we observed the changes in a crew member's emotion regulation-related indexes during 180 days of working and living in a confined isolation chamber through periodic interventions of the Tai Chi and conducted statistical analyses. During the 180-day cabin mission, expression suppression, cognitive reappraisal, attention index, and relaxation index were all lower than those before entering the cabin, suggesting that the crew member's emotion regulation ability decreased during the in-cabin mission.

Effects of 15-Day Head-Down Bed Rest on Emotional Time Perception.

Accurate time perception is clearly essential for the successful implementation of space missions. To elucidate the effect of microgravity on time perception, we used three emotional picture stimuli: neutral, fear, and disgust, in combination with a temporal bisection task to measure 16 male participants' time perception in 15 days of -6° head-down bed rest, which is a reliable simulation model for most physiological effects of spaceflight. We found that: (1) participants showed temporal overestimation of the fear stimuli in the middle phase (day 8), suggesting that when participants' behavioral simulations were consistent with the action implications of the emotional stimuli, they could still elicit an overestimation of time even if the subjective arousal of the emotional stimuli was not high.

Personalized Epigenome Remodeling Under Biochemical and Psychological Changes During Long-Term Isolation Environment.

It has been reported that several aspects of human health could be disturbed during a long-term isolated environment (for instance, the Mars-500 mission), including psychiatric disorders, circadian disruption, temporal dynamics of gut microbiota, immune responses, and physical-activity-related neuromuscular performance. Nevertheless, the mechanisms underlying these disturbances and the interactions among different aspects of human adaptation to extreme environments remain to be elucidated. Epigenetic features, like DNA methylation, might be a linking mechanism that explains the involvement of environmental factors between the human genome and the outcome of health.

Simulated Spaceflight Operations Under Sleep Deprivation and Confinement.

Introduction: This study investigated how operation complexity and type affect Chinese individuals' performance of simulated spaceflight operations under conditions of sleep deprivation and confinement (SDC).

Methods: There were 20 male volunteers who were randomly divided into 2 groups: the SDC group (N = 8) and the control group (N = 12). During the 72-h experimental period, the volunteers were asked to perform 11 computerized spaceflight emergency procedures, varying in operation complexity and type, three times at the 9(th), 33(rd), and 57(th) hours, respectively.

The Effects of Guided Imagery on Heart Rate Variability in Simulated Spaceflight Emergency Tasks Performers.

Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the effects of guided imagery training on heart rate variability in individuals while performing spaceflight emergency tasks.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-one student subjects were recruited for the experiment and randomly divided into two groups: imagery group (n = 11) and control group (n = 10). The imagery group received instructor-guided imagery (session 1) and self-guided imagery training (session 2) consecutively, while the control group only received conventional training.

During the long way to Mars: effects of 520 days of confinement (Mars500) on the assessment of affective stimuli and stage alteration in mood and plasma hormone levels.

For future interplanetary manned spaceflight, mental issues, as well as physiological problems, must inevitably be considered and solved. Mars500 is a high-fidelity ground simulation experiment that involved 520 days of confined isolation for six multinational crewmembers. This experiment provided a good opportunity to perform psycho-physiological and psycho-social researches on such missions.

Physiological responses of astronaut candidates to simulated +Gx orbital emergency re-entry.

Introduction: We investigated astronaut candidates' physiological and pathological responses to +Gx exposure during simulated emergency return from a running orbit to advance astronaut +Gx tolerance training and medical support in manned spaceflight.

Methods: There were 13 male astronaut candidates who were exposed to a simulated high +Gx acceleration profile in a spacecraft during an emergency return lasting for 230 s. The peak value was 8.

Guided imagery, anxiety, heart rate, and heart rate variability during centrifuge training.

Background: Centrifuge training is an important method of improving the hypergravity tolerance of pilots, cosmonauts, and Chinese astronauts. However, the concomitants of tension or anxiety often impede training. Guided imagery (GI), a mind-body relaxation technique, provides a behavioral and cognitive means whereby individuals are able to exert control over the focus of attention.

[Study on relationship between emotional stability in flight and nerve system excitability].

Objective: To study the related factors of emotional stability in flight.

Method: Based on the operable definition of emotional stability in flight and the related literature review, 63 experienced pilots and flight coaches were investigated and the other-rating questionnaire of emotional stability in flight was established. To test the senior nerve system, Uchida Kraeplin (UK) test was administrated on 153 19-21 years old male student pilots of the second grade in the department of flight technique in China Civil Aviation College, who were selected through 13 h flight, 35 h solo flight, and acted as the standardization group.