An astronaut has revealed that venturing into space makes you age quicker.
Sara García Alonso said anyone who does it will “come back a mess”.
The 35-year-old added it can also cause sleep and back problems.
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Sara said: “And the longer you’re up there, the more so.”
Sara, a cancer researcher and reserve astronaut for the European Space Agency (ESA), said astronauts often experience an ageing process in months that would normally take decades.
She told podcaster Ricardo Moya that even a short spell in space can lead to “cognitive impairment, sleep problems, lower back pain, anaemia, osteoporosis, and muscle atrophy”.
Sara, the first Spanish woman selected for potential ESA space missions, added: “All of this happens to humans as we slowly age, except that it happens over a period of six months.
“In just half a year, you have a model of what will happen to a human being throughout their ageing process.”
She said it could be useful for treating those conditions in the future, as reported by What’s The Jam.
The astronaut explained: “They can study how these conditions arise and, even more interestingly, they can study how to combat them.”
She said such research could lead to “new therapeutic options for people here on Earth”.
When asked if that is a price she would be willing to pay to go into space, Sara agreed without a hint of hesitation.
She also slammed Flat Earthers for falling for “simple explanations” to life on our planet.
The molecular biologist said: “The arguments supporting the theory that the Earth is flat versus evidence that supports that the planet is spherical is a sterile debate, for me.
“Scientific data has already passed this chapter of history, it has been proven more than enough in hundreds of ways.”
“I think people who opt for conspiracy theories, for doubting the scientific method, do so more out of conviction, even belief.
“It makes me reflect on why these types of opinions are increasingly emerging.
“They opt for simple explanations, or those that are capable of being understood, to very complex problems.”
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