Hibernation allows animals to conserve energy during winter months. But can humans hibernate, and could it help us reach the far fringes of our solar system?
Us humans, on the other hand, find ourselves stuck all-too-consciously contemplating the frozen months ahead. In winter, everything feels twice as hard: getting dressed, shoveling snow, averting existential meltdown.
Wouldn’t it be nice to ring in the new year, promptly tunnel down some dark burrow, and curl up to wait for better days? There’s no clear path to human hibernation, or any guarantee that it’s possible. But researchers have begun to tease apart the science of the long nap, inspired by its potential to revolutionize space travel and medicine — and save us from the icy hell that is January.used by certain animals during harsh winter conditions. Animals significantly reduce their metabolic activity and body temperature to conserve energy.While the term "hibernation" is often used for various winter dormancy states in vertebrates, true hibernators include animals like some fishes, amphibians and reptiles that have near-freezing body temperatures during winter, along with a few mammals like bears. However, these mammals don't experience the same degree of temperature drop and can be easily awakened, so they are not considered true hibernators.The main advantage of hibernation is that you need less food and water, which explains why so many animals do it during the portion of the year when resources are scarce.In other words, hibernation allows animals to stretch their fat reserves farther by reducing their body’s temperature and life-sustaining processes to a minimum. Their heart rate and breathingHumans don't hibernate because our ancestors evolved in a tropical environment where food was plentiful year round, they had no use for this survival strategy, and thus never acquired the biological mechanisms for it. Plus, when they eventually migrated to cooler climates, they learned how to endure the winter with fire, shelter and warm clothing. Throughout the rest of the animal kingdom, from bears to bats to tortoises, extended periods of sluggishness are common. Not all are hibernators in the purest sense; in fact, some biologists, with a state of temporary inactivity called “torpor” at one end. What's more, only one species in our own lineage — a diminutive primate called theisn’t even a modern idea — Hippocrates, a Greek physician known as the father of medicine, recommended in the 5th century B.C.E. that wounded soldiers be treated in the snow. These days, doctors use it to limit damage to vital organs. Suppose you have a stroke or heart attack, in which blood flows to the brain and heart are interrupted. Under normal conditions, that interruption will prove fatal within minutes. But when body temperature drops to hibernation levels, your tissues need less oxygen. This is only a temporary kind of torpor. It’s less clear how we could safely hibernate for weeks, months or years on end. But a viable solution would go a long way toward unlocking the final frontier — deep-space exploration. One organization that’s particularly serious about human hibernation is NASA. At $10,000 per pound, the weight of food, supplies and infrastructure for a crew of astronauts could easily make distant voyages cost-prohibitive. But if these astronauts could snooze the flight away, they would drastically reduce their needs ., “the thought that humans can undergo a severe hypometabolic state analogous to hibernation borders on science fiction.” Indeed, it’s long been a staple of the genre, appearing in classic films likeWith just one crew member awake and the rest in their pods for weeks at a stretch, the agency suggested, they’d be able to travel farther from home with fewer resources. NASA's proposed endeavor comes with plenty of medical concerns, mostly revolving around our body’s stubborn attachment to a narrow temperature range — a few degrees off either direction and we find ourselves on the brink of disaster. Humans lack the adaptations that allow hibernators to lower their temperature without risk. Experts point to the need for a drug, or some other method, that could overcome this physiological barrier. And although none have been tested on humans, animal trials have shown it’s possible to induce hibernation in species that don’t come by it naturally. In 2011, a team of researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks applied their knowledge of Arctic ground squirrels to rats . The cold-weather rodents get to sign off for the winter because they produce a molecule that stimulates their adenosine receptors, which are crucial to hibernation. Yet the team found that rats, when injected with a similar substance,Finally, an important distinction: Hibernation isn’t sleep. In fact, it seems to be so taxing that most mammals rouse themselves every few weeks throughout the winter to. So maybe it’s not the restful escape we imagine. Maybe you’re better off bundling up, gritting your teeth and embracing the eternal struggle to maintain 98.6 degrees.Spending Time In Space Can Harm The Human Body − But Scientists Are Working To Mitigate These Risks Before Sending People To Mars
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