If you just can't get out of bed, NASA might have a mission for you.
A NASA study is recruiting volunteers to to lie in a bed that is tilted downward at a 6 degree angle for 70 days. Subjects who complete the entire bed rest project can earn up to $18,000.
The study is meant to test the conditions that astronauts might experience while traveling in space. NASA hopes to find out what physical changes occur to scientists on these missions and how much body function is required for a person to complete a specific task.The information will be used to develop methods that allow astronauts to have an easier time physically acclimating to daily life following space exploration.
Since there is no gravity in space, astronauts don't exert as much effort and might not get the necessary exercise they need to stay in shape.
Researchers are requiring participants to stay on a slight tilt which is intended to allow fluids to move towards the upper part of the body. That would allow researchers to study cardiovascular symptoms similar to what might be experienced during a space expedition.
The volunteers will be required to live in a bed rest facility located in NASA's Flight Analogs Research Unit (FARU) at the University of Texas Medical branch in Galveston, Texas. The subjects will be split into two groups. Some will be required to spend 105 days living in the facility and go through a variety of resistance and aerobic exercises while remaining on bed rest. The others will spend 97 days, and will not be required to do the exercises.
Data about the subjects' bones, muscles, heart and circulatory systems, nervous systems, nutritional conditions and their abilities to fight off infections will be recorded.
If they need to shower or use the bathroom, NASA has a modified shower device so the subjects will not need to stand.
For both groups, they'll have a few days of regular, mobile living inside the facility and a two-week recovery period after their 70 days of bed rest where they will be reconditioned back to normal physical activity.
NASA will pay $1,200 a week for the study which can last up to 15 weeks. The study was vetted and deemed safe by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, a committee which looks at the safety and ethics of medical research studies with human subjects.
Still interested? You must be in shape -- another requirement is that participants have to be non-smokers in healthy physical condition who pass the Modified Air Force Class III physical.
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Could you do this?