February 16, 2023

The human body

The human body is a complex and mysterious mechanism. Most often, we don’t pay attention to the signals that give us the body and brain, and they should be heeded.

Below are part of the interview with astronauts and biologists about what they learned about human body through science or experience.

1. Under stress the brain works twice as fast.

Sergei Ryazansky, Astronaut.

Before the flight, astronauts learn to deal with stress, because unforeseen situations and accidents on the ship can become a serious threat to the crew. One of the methods of training specialists is skydiving, and this is not just training in sports skills. In this way, instructors determine the stress level of future space explorers.

A voice recorder is fixed in the helmet, and a special card with the text with task that must be solved before the parachute open. Then the experts analyze the result - whether the decision was correct, how long time it took and how many obscene words the person used.

According to Ryazansky's experience, the solving the same task on the ground in a calm state took him 24 seconds, while in a jump he solved it in 12 seconds.

2. Memory can be full

Vyacheslav Dubynin

Professor of the Faculty of Biology, Moscow State University.

A small area of our brain called the hippocampus is responsible for short-term memory. It is very easy to overflow with the same type of information. Vyacheslav Dubynin calls this process the "museum effect". Walking around the Hermitage, in the first hour a person notices all the beautiful and interesting exhibits, then their enthusiasm fades, and at a certain moment the paintings and sculptures merge before their eyes into a single spot. So the brain signals the need to change the type of activity. It is best to switch to movement: 15-20 minutes of active walking will help our brain system reboot and work faster and more efficiently.