EXAMINING THE EFFECTS OF SPACE FLIGHT ON THE FLUID
REGULATING SYSTEMS OF THE BODY
CASE STUDY 3
FLUID-ELECTROLYTE REGULATION DURING SPACE FLIGHT
Principal Investigator:
Carolyn S. Leach, Ph.D.
NASA
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
Houston, Texas
Introduction
Have you ever wondered why you sometimes excrete great volumes of urine
and sometimes none at all? Have you ever wondered why sometimes you feel
so thirsty that you can hardly get enough to drink and other times you
want no liquids at all? Have you ever
wondered why every time you go to the movie theater and drink a large
soda at the beginning of the movie, you almost always have to go to the
bathroom during the middle of the movie (usually during the best part)?
Did you know that if you were eating salty popcorn along with your large
soda, you would not have to interrupt your movie to go to the bathroom?
These conditions, and many more, relate to one of the body's most
important functions - that of maintaining its fluid and electrolyte
balance.
