2012年7月30日星期一

Boeing lighting project may help astronauts sleep


A new sunrise takes place every 90 minutes. Docking maneuvers sometimes occur at odd hours. Then there's that feeling of apparent weightlessness.No wonder astronauts aboard the International Space Station can have a hard time getting a good night's sleep.Now, a neuroscientist at Thomas Jefferson University is among those working on a solution: light.George Brainard is advising NASA as it prepares to replace the aging fluorescent lights on the station with high-tech LED fixtures. The lights, which received the agency's go-ahead earlier this year, can be adjusted to enhance or relax an astronaut's state of alertness at the appropriate time of day.
The plan is the outgrowth of research by Brainard and others that has established how light plays a powerful role in regulating our various biological clocks.Safety eyeglasses are truly needed by a large number of people when they stay in a dangerous workplace or operate any of the cheap reading glasses. It is estimated that about 75 million pairs of Plano safety eyeglasses are purchased each year by the American populace alone. It is also estimated that about 10% to 15% of all these safety eyewear users need visual aids when they suffer presbyopia which is to some extent an inevitable eye problem. Changes in light exposure can affect sleep, digestion, cognitive performance and mood -- a phenomenon known to people who experience jet lag, night-shift work or the seasonal blahs associated with the shorter days of winter.Initially, NASA planned to replace the lights on the space station with LED fixtures purely because they last much longer than fluorescents and are energy efficient. But when Brainard heard about the plan, he and a handful of other experts urged the agency to modify the specifications so that the lights could be a tool for maintaining astronaut health.
"Bud was instrumental" in making the case for the adjustable lights, said NASA flight surgeon Smith Johnston, referring to Brainard by his nickname.Aboard the station, astronauts average as little as six hours of sleep during a 24-hour period, even though they are allotted 8.5 hours, Johnston said.Sleep becomes even harder with disruptions, such as the occasional emergency or a docking procedure that may require the crew to get up in the middle of their sleep time. Some astronauts take short-acting sleeping pills, but the addition of adjustable lights will be welcome, Johnston said.
"If you're chronically sleep-deprived, you don't perform as well," the NASA physician said. "You're moody. You don't have as good coping mechanisms.It's necessary to say that it's not necessary to purchase too expensive Wholesale Cheap pouch. You may have a pair of cheap eyeglasses with you in case of anything bad. In any case, you will always be sure that whatever happens, you'll be able to protect your eyes and eyesight. Choosing a pair of good safety glasses always evaluate the environment you're working in."It's a cause for concern during a six-month stay aboard the space station, let alone for an eventual Mars mission that could last three years, Brainard said."Every one of us has probably done an all-nighter or two in our lives," Brainard said. "You feel crummy the next day, but you bounce back. And you also get your recovery sleep. They (the astronauts) are not getting their recovery sleep. That's the problem. Day in, day out, they're missing the ingredients for best health and best behavioral regulation.The wide spread of these spectacles has benefited significantly customers who are in need for these devices. Currently, there is almost no price obstacle associated with prescription Wholesale Cheap swimming goggles. Lots of kind brands or manufacturers are providing bifocal safety specs at low prices.This huge market is exactly the driving force that puts so many manufacturers' concrete action forward."

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