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Sleep Environment Recommendations for Future Spaceflight Vehicles

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Advances in Human Aspects of Transportation

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 484))

Abstract

Evidence from spaceflight and ground-based missions demonstrate that sleep loss and circadian desynchronization occur among astronauts, leading to reduced performance and, increased risk of injuries and accidents. We conducted a comprehensive literature review to determine the optimal sleep environment for lighting, temperature, airflow, humidity, comfort, noise, privacy and security in the sleep environment. We reviewed the design and use of sleep environments in a wide range of cohorts including among aquanauts, expeditioners, pilots, military personnel, and ship operators. We also reviewed sleep quality from every NASA spaceflight mission. We found that the optimal sleep environment is cool, dark, quiet, and is perceived as safe and private. There are wide individual differences in the preferred sleep environment; therefore modifiable sleeping compartments are necessary to ensure all crewmembers are able to select personalized configurations for optimal sleep. We provide recommendations to aid in the design of deep space sleep chambers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. San Jose State University Research Foundation, San Jose, CA, USA

    Zachary A. Caddick & Kevin Gregory

  2. NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA

    Erin E. Flynn-Evans

Authors
  1. Zachary A. Caddick
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  2. Kevin Gregory
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  3. Erin E. Flynn-Evans
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Erin E. Flynn-Evans .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering and the Environme, University of Southampton Faculty of Engineering and the Environme, Southampton, United Kingdom

    Neville A. Stanton

  2. Purdue University , West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Steven Landry

  3. Dipartimento di Architettura, Università degli Studi “G.d’Annunzio” Chiet, Pescara, Italy

    Giuseppe Di Bucchianico

  4. Dipartimento di Architettura, Università degli Studi “G.d’Annunzio” Chiet, Pescara, Italy

    Andrea Vallicelli

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Caddick, Z.A., Gregory, K., Flynn-Evans, E.E. (2017). Sleep Environment Recommendations for Future Spaceflight Vehicles. In: Stanton, N., Landry, S., Di Bucchianico, G., Vallicelli, A. (eds) Advances in Human Aspects of Transportation. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 484. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41682-3_76

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41682-3_76

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