2007, Piran, Slovenia

Environmental Ergonomics XII
Igor B. Mekjavic, Stelios N. Kounalakis & Nigel A.S. Taylor (Eds.), © BIOMED, Ljubljana 2007
EFFECTS OF MICROGRAVITY SIMULATED BY BED REST ON
HUMANS – SOME PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS
Rado Pišot¹, Petra Dolenc¹ and Matej Tušak²
¹ University of Primorska, Science and Research Centre of Koper, Institute for
Kinesiology Research, Koper, Slovenia
² University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Sport, Institute of Kinesiology, Ljubljana,
Slovenia
Contact person: rado.pisot@pef.upr.si
INTRODUCTION
Psychological factors (personal or psychosocial) play an important role in the
processes of adaptation in conditions of extreme confinement and isolation; such as
occur, for instance, during sojourns in space or simulation thereof. Adaptation to new
conditions undoubtedly represents an important source of stress and can induce
psychological and behavioural disturbances, such as anxiety and other mood changes
(Weiss et al., 2005).
The aim of the present study was to optimize psychological preparation and
monitoring of subjects participating in 35 day horizontal bed rest. These results may
be applicable to other groups of individuals exposed to similar conditions (e.g.
bedridden individuals suffering from long-term illness, post-operative conditions
requiring long-term recovery, physically inactive individuals).
Recent studies report increased depressive and neurotic levels during BR period
(Ishizaki et al., 1997; Ishizaki et al., 2002). Similarly, these reported a deterioration in
mood states “vigour” and “confusion” during the BR period, while other aspects of
mood “tension-anxiety”, “depression-dejection”, “anger-hostility”, and “fatigue”
remained relatively stable during the experiment (Ishizaki et al., 2002).
Subjects participating in 6 degrees head-down bed rest experienced significantly more
intense lower back pain, lower hemisphere abdominal pain, headache and leg pain
than those participating in a horizontal bed-rest. They also had higher values of
depression symptoms and poorer mood states (Styf et al., 2001).
The objective of the study was to establish the effects of a 35 day horizontal bed rest
on the anxiety level, emotional regulation and control, and concentration in subjects
participating in the study.
METHOD
The study included 10 male participants aged 20 to 25 (M = 23 years). All participants
were clinically healthy during testing. The majority of participants were students.
They joined the research voluntarily. Their activities during the BR period were
limited and supervised.
State Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, 1983) was used to establish anxiety level
in participants; for the purposes of this research, we have included only part of the
questionnaire that relates to “state anxiety” The questionnaire allows for the
establishment of a temporary emotional state of an individual (situational
conditionality).
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