Do astronauts sleep? Yes. Do they sleep well? No.
That is a bit of a worry to our mind.
Researchers at Harvard College, Harvard Medical School and NASA Ames Research Centre came to this conclusion after studying the sleeping patterns of four cosmonauts and one astronaut, examining their sleep before, during and after a mission to Mir space station.
The space explorers had an average of 5.7 hours sleep per night when they were off-planet, compared to the 6.7 hours per night they’d typically enjoy on Earth. That equates to 18% less sleep.
And not only were they sleeping less, they were sleeping less efficiently.
In space it was taking the cosmonauts and astronaut 90 minutes to reach a level of deep sleep, nearly 1.5 time longer than it took on Earth.
Even if you don’t have plans to leave the planet any time soon, the study’s lead author Oliver Piltch says there are some interesting implications for those who remain on Earth.
He said: “Our results support other studies indicating that sleep architecture can adapt to different environments. Also, the sleep deficits that our subjects were facing while working around the clock in a high-pressure environment provide further evidence for the danger of stress and shift-work schedules for humans anywhere.”
