Cycle and centrifuge ride

A group of 12 volunteers are bracing themselves for a bedridden journey that put them into a compulsory reclined lifestyle. Participants are kept in beds tilted 6° below the horizontal with their feet up – meals, showers and toilet breaks included.

As blood flows to the head and muscle is lost from underuse, researchers are charting how their bodies react. Bedrest studies offer a way of testing measures to counter some of the negative aspects of living in space.

The BRACE (Bed Rest with Artificial gravity and Cycling Exercise) study investigates how cycling could counteract the changes the human body experiences in space.

The study takes place at MEDES, the Institute for Space Medicine and Physiology in Toulouse, France, and is supported by the French Space Agency CNES.