Space gynecologist Varsha Jain, in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live , commented on her work related to the health of astronauts in the framework of the first spacewalk carried out only by women.
Jain, based on his research at the MRC Center for Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland, noted that adaptation to the cosmos is similar between male and female sex, except for some details.
As for men, the expert said they lose a large percentage of vision and hearing, especially when they return to Earth.
The women, however, are affected by a change in their blood pressure. “It’s common for them to pass out,” he said.
Sally Kristen Ride was an astronaut of NASA who emerged as the first woman in 1983 the United States to leave the Earth. From that feat, the renowned space agency had to consider what happened with the period of menstruation.
Space crews at that time said: “Let’s not consider that a problem unless it becomes a problem,” Jain said.
Immediately, the gynecologist compared traveling through the stars with camping, so those involved in the mission had a duty to attach menstrual tampons to their logistics.
The teams designated for this task were dominated by men and launched their own conjecture, without science to back them up: “We need 200 tampons every week.” However, the number was exaggerated.
According to BBC Mundo , the solution to this day is to take birth control pills to suspend the female reproductive cycle .
“And it is an acceptable measure,” added Varsha Jain.
There are two toilets in the International Space Station, but their common use is far from terrestrial customs.
“In space, urine is not wasted but is recycled to obtain drinking water from it,” said the cosmodoctor.
She also said that the water in the blood is not recycled because it is solid.
A person with menstruation cannot use the toilets in the same way, because he is limited to following a series of regulations.
Fortunately, there is no relationship between sidereal trips and a statistical decrease in pregnancies of female astronauts, although, according to the gynecologist, the mission members are on average 38 years old.
“The option to freeze ovules or sperm before a mission is totally personal, according to what I know,” he said in the interview. In turn, he stressed that NASA does not have a strict protocol on the subject.
Although it is known that radiation is dangerous for humans, scientists have not been able to link it to fertility. Semen quality, on the other hand, is diminished after a cosmic journey, but upon reaching Earth this difficulty disappears.
Source: Larepublica
