Arctic squirrel research may teach NASA astronauts how to hibernate on deep space missions

The state of hibernation is much more than just sleep.

Animals in hibernation are protected against bone and muscle mass that usually affects bed-ridden patients.

Researchers are studying hibernating Arctic ground squirrels with the goal of harnessing the benefits of this odd natural state to protect astronauts' health on long-duration space missions. Hibernation is not just sleep. In fact, it's quite different from sleep. While we sleep, our brains fire up and become highly active; in hibernation, on the contrary, brain activity completely slows down. The body temperature of hibernating animals also drops, in some cases close to the freezing point, cells stop dividing and heart rate decreases to two beats per minute.

Yet, once it's time to wake up, hibernating animals bounce back to life without any substantial side effects. The same, however, can't be said about people who wake up from long-term medical comas, or even those who are bed-ridden for long periods of time. Such people, just like astronauts in

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