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<b>Body Clocks 'Hinder' Space Travel</b><br /><br />LINK<br /><br />Russell Foster's team at Imperial College London, UK, is looking at how astronauts would cope away from Earth. <br /><br />Foster says our "circadian rhythm is crucial. It stops everything happening at once and co-ordinates the right things to happen at the right time". <br /><br />Whilst the human body is used to a 24-hour cycle, the day on Mars is an extra 39 minutes long, which could prove difficult for humans to adapt to. <br /><br />The Imperial researchers are working in conjunction with the US National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) and have been investigating the impact space travel has on human sleep behaviour. <br /><br />As the NSBRI's website puts it, "the success of human spaceflight depends on astronauts remaining alert while operating highly complex, state-of-the-art equipment. A crucial factor of mission success is getting enough sleep". <br /><br />Sleep deprivation <br /><br />Space is the most extreme shift-working environment. The crews on space missions sleep poorly, with astronauts averaging about two hours per night less sleep than they normally experience on Earth. <br /><br />Previous research into nightshift workers has shown disrupted sleep patterns can lead to various health problems and diminished performance. For example, such workers are at a 50% higher risk of a car crash at three in the morning after four days of nightshifts. <br /><br />Professor Foster commented at the recent BA annual Festival of Science in Exeter: "While many of the technical difficulties of space travel are well documented, there has been less research on the medical and health-related problems astronauts may encounter. <br /><br />"The human body is used to a 24-hour cycle, which may prove difficult to regulate in space." <br /><br />Research has shown the average human body clock has a period of 24 hours and 11 minutes, whi