Organization/Location Investigators
Purpose This work meets the HEDS (Human Exploration and Development of Space) objectives of: (1) determining methods for facilitating adaptation to space, thereby improving crew health, safety and performance, and (2) transferring NASA technology to Earth-based applications. This research will also provide data to NASA for the purpose of evaluation and validation of AFTE in a unique operational environment (military aircraft) and these data are relevant to future planned tests of AFTE in space. The AFTE methods and systems, both the Autogenic Clinical Laboratory System (ACLS) and ambulatory monitoring equipment, will provide Navy investigators with a means to perform comprehensive assessments of pilot physiological status, standardize training methods, and data collection procedures. The present study will include documenting baseline autonomic function in pilot participants, and establishing procedures for remote monitoring and training. Remote training and monitoring capabilities are essential to future planned use of AFTE with astronauts to improve operational readiness during long-duration space flight. It is further anticipated that remote training methods will be utilized by medical, commercial and military personnel for the application of AFTE in other environments. Background AFTE involves training subjects to voluntarily control several of their own physiological responses. The rationale for using AFTE was based on the observation that there are profound autonomic nervous system (ANS) changes associated with motion sickness.1-3 This training method has been shown to enhance motion sickness tolerance in 80% of participants within 6 hours of training,4-7 accelerates physiological adaptation to space, 8-12 and improves performance during high stress tasks.7 It is unlikely that it has any of the detrimental side-effects associated with pharmacological treatments. AFTE is a combined application of several physiological and perceptual training techniques that include Autogenic Therapy,13 and biofeedback.14 Autogenic Therapy is a self-regulatory technique that has been shown to have wide effects on autonomic reactivity. This training method involves the use of self- suggestion exercises that are designed to induce bodily sensations (e.g., warmth in the hands) that are highly correlated with specific physiological responses such as peripheral vasodilatation. When these exercises are practiced in series, the result is a relaxed (i.e., parasympathetic-like) physiological profile within the subject that prevents the emergence of behavioral and physiological reactions to stress. Biofeedback 14,6 consists of providing the subject with augmented sensory information about ongoing activity levels of some physiological response (e.g., heart rate on digital panel meter), and rewarding him whenever such levels fluctuate in a direction selected by the trainer (i.e., heart rate fluctuates above baseline). The result is an enhanced ability by the subject to maintain the changed level for increasing periods of time. Only repetition and practice are required before physiological control is achieved. Because AFTE involves training subjects to voluntarily control both increase and decreases of specific physiological response levels, it constitutes a learned skill, which can be quantified over time. Unlike relaxation training, subjects learn to recognize physiological changes associated with motion stimulation (i.e. rotating chair tests) and to voluntarily “mimic” their own resting levels. The training program requires a baseline exposure in a rotating chair and three subsequent exposures after 2, 4 and 6 hours of training. In order to evaluate the use of AFTE as a clinical tool for treating airsick pilots it will be necessary for the Navy investigators to install an ACLS system at their facility. This real-time data acquisition system can accommodate up to twenty physiological measures during training. The ACLS data files will easily import to an existing database enabling researchers at Ames to process and analyze the data, and to compare training data of pilots to other subject populations (i.e., soldiers, astronauts). Why Human Research Is Required |
|||||||||||