NATIONAL SPACE BIOMEDICAL
RESEARCH INSTITUTE
RESEARCH INSTITUTE
| Software to Help Plan Sleep Schedules Sleep. Humans need it in order to perform well on the job, in space and on the ground. Diminished alertness and performance are not the only potential adverse effects if people do not receive enough sleep. Overall health can also be affected. Lack of sleep is associated with an increased risk of obesity, pre-diabetic conditions, reduced response to vaccines and changes in cardiovascular functions. Dr. Elizabeth B. Klerman and a team of researchers have developed software that uses complex mathematical models to help astronauts and ground support personnel better adjust to shifting work and sleep schedules. On Earth, the software, which can be loaded on a laptop, could help people in many different occupations that require shift or night or extended work hours and people who experience jet lag due to travel across time zones. Read News Release Read Project Summary NSBRI Investigator: Elizabeth B. Klerman, M.D., Ph.D., Brigham and Women's Hospital - Harvard Medical School Optimized Lighting: Combating Sleep Loss and Shift Work Problems Risk factors for the health and safety of astronauts include sleep loss and disturbed circadian rhythms that can result in reduced alertness and performance. Several NSBRI researchers are working to determine the best combination of lighting stimuli for use as a countermeasure for sleep and circadian disruption during spaceflight. NSBRI-funded investigators have discovered that "blue-enriched" lamps could be a potential in-flight stimulus for rapid adaptation to shifts in sleep cycles required by astronauts. Prototype lighting systems enriched in the blue and green portions of the spectrum are currently being tested. Light in this range of the spectrum is a potent suppressor of the production of melatonin, a hormone that increases at night when individuals get drowsy and are ready for sleep. If the prototypes are effective, they may be useful in space exploration as well as for treating sleep disruption on Earth in persons with problems related to shift work and intercontinental jet travel. Listen to Podcast Three NSBRI projects are looking at lighting for spaceflight: NSBRI Investigator: George C. Brainard, Ph.D., Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, Project Summary NSBRI Investigator: Charles A. Czeisler, Ph.D., M.D., Brigham and Women's Hospital – Harvard Medical School, Project Summary NSBRI Investigator: Steven W. Lockley, Ph.D., Brigham and Women's Hospital – Harvard Medical School, Project Summary Objective Self Test to Measure Fatigue Fatigue from high workload and sleep loss is a common risk to astronauts. Dr. David F. Dinges has developed a brief, valid, reliable, objective measure of fatigue for use by astronauts on the International Space Station, based on Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT) performance. The 3-minute PVT Self Test can determine the extent to which fatigue from high workload, sleep loss and shifted work-rest schedules is affecting the ability to be vigilant, react quickly and avoid both lapses of attention and response errors. Unaffected by aptitude or practice, PVT Self Test is administered on a laptop and tests the reaction times of users to signals that appear on the screen. The PVT Self Test has been extensively validated in experimental and field studies, and the Self Test algorithm, which provides feedback to astronauts on their performance levels, was developed from unique normative data on current astronauts. The test has wide application to any group that must operate remotely at high levels of alertness, such as first responders, Homeland Security personnel, flight crews, special military operations, police and firefighters. Read News Release Listen to Podcast Read Project Summary NSBRI Investigator: David F. Dinges, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Reading the Face: Optical Computer Recognition of Stress and Affect Astronauts must perform mission-critical tasks without becoming stressed and fatigued. During long missions, they need to reliably detect when psychological stress, negative emotions and fatigue may interfere with the ability to function effectively. Since humans display stress and fatigue in facial muscles and expressions, this project is developing optical computer recognition algorithms (computer vision) to unobtrusively and objectively detect negative facial expressions during critical space operations. A camera tracks the shape and movements of the face in three dimensions, continuously monitoring for expressions of stress, emotion and fatigue. The system has applications on Earth for people performing critical tasks in safety-sensitive occupations. Read Project Summary NSBRI Investigators: David F. Dinges, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and Dimitris Metaxas, Ph.D., Rutgers University |
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