Welcome To Space
WARNING - In this article I write about how living in space affects our bodies. After reading, let me know if you would like to go in the comments.
Earthly Life vs. Space Life
Astronauts live and work in space for many months. They “face many challenges” because space is very different from Earth. There is no gravity in space, so their bodies change a lot. When they come back to Earth, they must work hard to feel normal again. Just walking or standing up from a chair is hard.
To “face a challenge” means that there is something that takes a lot of mental and physical effort to complete. For example, Goku would face the challenge of working out in 100x gravity.
My Aching Back
In space, astronauts’ muscles and bones become feeble because they do not use them much. Feeble means to be without strength in the body and/or mind. Their bones lose minerals, and their muscles become smaller. When they’re back on Earth even lifting a pencil or a toothbrush can be difficult! Their hearts also do not work as hard as on Earth. When they return, they must exercise a lot to get strong again.
Exercising, and eating well, while you are young will help prevent you from becoming feeble when you’re older en shaa Allaah.
Eating and Digestion
Eating in space is different from eating on Earth. Gravity helps food move in the stomach, but in space, digestion is difficult. Astronauts eat less food in space. When they come back, they need to eat more to stay healthy. So when astronauts return they mostly eat a lot of steak and butter.
Digestion is how your body takes the food you eat and turns it into energy to help you grow and stay strong. It starts when you chew your food and ends when your body takes out the good parts and gets rid of the rest.
My Eyes - Not My Eyes
Our bodies are mostly liquid (almost 75%). In space, fluids in the body move to the head. This can make astronauts' faces look puffy and their eyes change. Sometimes, they have trouble seeing when they come back to Earth. Scientists are studying how to fix these problems. To understand astronauts’ problems, think of how a very long handstand would affect your body: a puffy face and problems swallowing. And that’s only two!
If you can do a handstand then will understand some of the things astronauts feel in space: your face will get puffy and swell up also, it’s hard to swallow.
Bonus: Today’s Idiom
For my more advanced readers, tell me what you think of this story. Living in space - even for a short time - affects your brain, your cells, you age faster, your D.N.A., your digestion, your muscles, your eyes, your face, your legs and your hair. In short, every organ and organ system is negatively affected by living in space. Imagine if all the changes in your body happened super fast, so you went through your whole life in just a few weeks instead of many years. So imagine that you already hate traveling, you would hate even more going to outer space. But, if you love traveling then you cannot get there “flying by the seat of your pants” as you might be there, like these two astronauts, a very long time.
The idiom, “flying by the seat of your pants”, means to do things without any planning or preparation.
Take a test for this article by clicking the link below.
https://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/ugc/story.php?title=living-in-space-4e4