According to the new study Astronaut, Scott Kelly spent a year in space and his Heart Shrank despite the fact that he worked out six days a week over his 340 days stay. This study was published in the American Heart Association’s journal circulation.
Kelly Scott spent Kelly, who spent nearly a year on the International Space Station in 2015 and 2016, Heart Shrank in mass by more than one-quarter by the time he returned to Earth. Researchers observed the same change in Benoît Lecomte after he completed his 159-day swim across the Pacific Ocean in 2018.
The study suggests that long-term weightlessness alters the structure of the heart leading to shrinkage and atrophy. Various low-intensity exercises cannot keep them from happening. The gravity we experience on Earth helps the heart to maintain both its size and function as it keeps blood pumping through our veins. It is necessary for simple functions like standing up and walking around helps pull blood down into our legs. When the gravity is replaced with weightlessness the heart shrinks.
Kelly lived in the absence of gravity in the International Space Station from March 27, 2015, to March 1, 2016. He did workouts on a stationary bike and treadmill and incorporated resistance activities into his routine six days a week for two hours each day.
Lecomte swam from June 5 to November 11, 2018, covering 1,753 miles and averaging about six hours a day swimming. That sustained activity may sound extreme, but each day of swimming was considered to be low-intensity activity. The difference is Lecomte was on the earth and the time he was spending in the water offsets the effects of gravity. The mass of Kelly’s Heart Shrank to 4.9 ounces from 6.7 ounces, a decline of about 27 percent. The hearts of both Mr. Kelly and Mr. Lecomte slimmed at a rate of about 1/40th of an ounce a week.
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