5 weird things space does to the human body

Humans in Space by JoAnna Wendel Dec. 1, 2020 Shutterstock

Shutterstock Only 553 people have been to space, and only 12 have walked on the Moon.

In the 50 years of human space travel, we've discovered that living in space does weird things to the human body.

Shutterstock 1. Spaceflight can damage eyesight . As many as half of all U.S. astronauts who were onboard the International Space Station (ISS) suffered from what NASA calls Spaceflight Neuro-ocular Syndrome.

Shutterstock Researchers aren’t sure exactly what causes it, but it could be related to the widening of brain vesicles or flattening of eyeballs in microgravity .

Shutterstock 2. Microgravity causes bones to lose density and muscles to atrophy . Without gravity pushing on our bones, they have no reason to grow strong.

Shutterstock This is why astronauts have a strict exercise regime onboard the ISS.

Shutterstock 3. Your heart changes shape in space. In microgravity, less blood gets circulated in the body, which means the heart softens up and becomes more round.

Shutterstock 4. Space radiation can cause heart disease. Astronauts who ventured to the Moon had a 43 percent higher chance of developing cardiovascular issues than their Earth-bound peers, most likely due to radiation in space.

Shutterstock 5. The damage space travel does to the human body could come down to “Mitochondrial dysfunction.” In a set of studies involving mice and astronauts, scientists found changes in the function of mitochondria, the tiny energy factories of the cell, as a result of the space environment.

Shutterstock These changes could be behind the heart, vision, and bone issues seen in astronauts.

Shutterstock Read more space stories here .

5 weird things space does to the human body

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