At least some astronauts who spend six months aboard the International Space Station come back to Earth with stiffer arteries than before their flights, a new study reveals.
Stiff arteries in seniors here on Earth can lead to higher blood pressure and, potentially, problems with blood flow to the brain. But no blood pressure changes in astronauts have been noted so far, scientists said.
"In an older person, that means that the blood pressure that reaches the brain, for example, is elevated," Richard Hughson, lead author of the research and a vascular aging researcher at the University of Waterloo in Canada, told Space.com in a phone interview. "You're putting higher pressures on the smaller, more fragile blood vessels that are in the brain and potentially damaging them." Read more...
More about Health, Space, Nasa, Astronauts, and Us World Reported by Mashable 1 day ago.
Stiff arteries in seniors here on Earth can lead to higher blood pressure and, potentially, problems with blood flow to the brain. But no blood pressure changes in astronauts have been noted so far, scientists said.
"In an older person, that means that the blood pressure that reaches the brain, for example, is elevated," Richard Hughson, lead author of the research and a vascular aging researcher at the University of Waterloo in Canada, told Space.com in a phone interview. "You're putting higher pressures on the smaller, more fragile blood vessels that are in the brain and potentially damaging them." Read more...
More about Health, Space, Nasa, Astronauts, and Us World Reported by Mashable 1 day ago.