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Remote and self-isolation: space experience to help earthlings

NPP ITELMA thanks Philip Terekhov, Alexei Statsenko, Anna Yusupova, Polina Kuznetsova, Elena Strizhenova for their help in preparing the material. We wish all inhabitants of the Earth health and productive activities.

“But it increasingly began to seem to me as if some caustic fog was creeping into a tiny room and, slowly poisoning us, made us intolerant of each other. Some trifles in behavior and in a manner of holding began to acquire implausibly exaggerated significance ... The usual benevolence of tone disappeared, misunderstandings flared up, increasingly resembling quarrels. And all for nothing ”- this is how the journalist described himself in a ten-week isolation experiment. Now that the whole country has begun the second week of forced sitting at home, the space experience is becoming very useful. For many years, scientists (the IMBP RAS is doing this in Russia) studied the human psyche and performed experiments aimed at preventing astronauts from going crazy during their flight to Mars. The knowledge and experience gained provide specific recommendations that you and I should learn and apply.


Valery Polyakov spent 437 days in a row in space and returned healthy physically and mentally. Take an example from Valery!

Pressure chamber tips


Let's start right away with advice and recommendations, and the stories of polar explorers, prisoners, testers and astronauts, happy and not very, will be in the second part of the material.

Tip 1:Consider self-isolation as working in new conditions, not vacation. The experience of isolation experiments shows that people who set out on a vacation were a bigger problem for their crew. Moreover, one should not tune in to negative thoughts - the experience of mankind shows that restriction of freedom is often used as a punishment, but many people find it positive. Two people can perceive the same conditions of isolation with opposite emotions. If we perceive unusual conditions as a project activity, a game or exercises, a temporary situation where unusualness is expected, it will be easier. Astronauts have a harder time - they work in constantly extreme conditions, where a disaster can begin even without your mistake.


Schedule of the day at the ISS

Tip 2:Structure the day, make a plan and move on it. One astronaut described the work on the ISS as follows: “In my opinion, there are no complicated parts in life on the ISS. You work and work. The main thing is to know your job. Be able to perform it. We have distributed work and are moving forward. ” Of course, ordinary life in an apartment is somewhat easier than the ISS, we are not surrounded by sophisticated devices that need to be constantly interacted with, but children can make a round-the-clock mess without any problems. The usual activities - cleaning, cooking, minor repairs (take pity on the neighbors, do not drill the walls) will help psychologically. Try to keep a diary, but not on social networks, this is a tried and true method of help.

Tip 3:Set the rules for the use of space in the apartment: select a place where you can retire and where other family members can go only by permission, in case of acute shortage of space, establish the order of stay in a separate room (two hours you, then two hours I). The situation when there are too many people in a small volume is well known to astronauts. And too close communication in a confined space even leads to physiological reactions - the pulse rises, breathing quickens. Be sure to monitor the noise level, we, on earth, live much quieter than on the ISS, where ventilation and devices create noise up to 60 decibels. If possible, control the number of conversations, excessive talkativeness is a noticeable lack of isolation.


Scott Kelly and Fruit

Tip 4:Try a new meal. In space flight, astronauts not only lack the usual food, but also change their sense of taste. But the arrival of a cargo ship with hotels becomes a holiday. Break the monotony, new and tasty food - a simple life hack.

Tip 5: Be sure to exercise. Astronauts in orbit spend two hours on simulators, not only to maintain the ability to move after landing, physical activity helps the psyche. In home quarantine, we are deprived even of the few kilometers that were covered a day before the stops and shops; it is necessary to combat asthenization (weakening) of the psyche.

Tip 6:Filter what you consume from the TV and the Internet. From a sensory point of view, our familiar content is monotonous and toxic, think that you can read and see good, new and useful (and yes, at the end of the material there will be a list of relevant and useful links). Useful content and physical education will save you from asthenia.

Tip 7:Agree on a careful, educated relationship to each other. Try to control your emotions. Do not accumulate resentment, if you already had a fight - go to different rooms, cool down, and, having met, discuss the conflict. If you don’t talk right away, resentment is widening, and a serious conflict is inevitable. Social deprivation, in which the circle of communication is narrowed, but communication itself is intensified, is familiar to both astronauts, polar explorers, and many people who find themselves isolated, they often emphasize the need for seemingly obvious, but no less important requirements from this.


Astronaut Koichi Wakata talks with the robot

Tip 8:If you are completely alone (or you have a lonely elderly relative), look for ways to communicate. A smart column or even keeping a diary helps. Robots are sent to the ISS, the function of which is including communication.

Tip 9: Working remotely, while communicating, keep clarity, clarity, do not get distracted by outsiders, transmit information, not emotions. Cosmonauts on the ISS “work remotely” for six months, and it is these characteristics of the person with whom communication is maintained at the MCC that are highly evaluated and increase the efficiency of work.

Council 10:Combat anxiety planning. Of course, when sitting at home, the dangers are much less than in space, but some misfortunes can happen here. Consider (if necessary, write down) step-by-step instructions for specific events. A happened - I call B, do C first, then G, and finally D. Cosmonauts train a lot in simulators, practicing actions in various accidents. As a result, if a real accident happens, the procedure for eliminating it is already familiar and not scary.


When sleeping in zero gravity, hands occupy such a position. Estimate the size of the cabin - a small closet, but yours, this is important

Tip 11:Do not shoot down the mode. This may seem surprising, but the astronaut in orbit also has the temptation to go to bed later. More precisely, this is not a temptation, but a tendency that manifests itself, for example, in isolation experiments, and seems to be peculiar to us as a biological species. Self-isolation - an opportunity to sleep, take advantage of this. Do not curtain the windows, plan an eight-hour sleep, meal time, work, physical education (yes, again) and rest. Be sure to spend your days off - working seven days a week, “Groundhog Day”, is much more tiring.

Tip 12: Plan with your family how you will celebrate the end of quarantine. This is an important and useful exercise that will give you additional motivation.

Optimal behavior strategy: tolerance (tolerance towards others), clearly defined goals, full employment and physical activity.

Abundance of experience


The duration of the space flight grew rapidly. 108 minutes of Yuri Gagarin six months later turned into 25 hours and 11 minutes of German Titov, and the longest flight of the “Vostoks” was 115 hours (4 days 22 hours 55 minutes) by Valery Bykovsky on “Vostok-5” in 1963. Then the baton of records was accepted Americans - on “Gemini” made two long flights, for 7 days 22 hours (“Gemini-5”) and 13 days 18 hours (“Gemini-7”). But the record for the duration of a spacecraft’s flight without docking belongs to the Soviet Union-9 in 1970 (17 days 16 hours). It has not been beaten so far - the longest flight of the shuttle was an hour or so shorter.

Then came the era of orbital stations. 23 days 18 hours “Soyuz-11” were quickly beaten by the Americans on “Skylab” - the third expedition worked for 84 days. But four years later, the palm passed to the USSR / Russia, where it still remains. At the Salyut-6 station, the longest expedition lasted 184 days. At “Salute-7” worked a maximum of 237 days. But the real factory of records became “Mir”. Yuri Romanenko in 1987 worked 326 days. In 1988, Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov spent exactly one year in space. And in 1994-1995 Valery Polyakov was at the station for 437 days. This record has not been broken so far. In the ISS in 2015-2016, the maximum annual mission in 2015-2016 (340 days) was held, and a female record of duration was set - Kristina Cook, 328 days, 2020.


From left to right: Manovtsev, Ulybyshev, Bozhko

At the same time, isolation experiments were conducted on the ground - volunteers were locked up in confined spaces simulating a spaceship, their behavior was monitored and experiments were performed on them. In 1968, doctor German Anatolievich Manovtsev, biologist Andrei Nikolaevich Bozhko and technician Boris Nikolaevich Ulybyshev spent a year in a simulator of a Martian ship. The experiment was ambitious, but there was still not enough knowledge - the testers were not really familiar with each other before the experiment, a group of three people now seems too small and poses a risk that two will begin to be “friends against” the third. It was hard, but the experiment ended successfully, including because the testers intuitively found the right solutions - Andrei kept a diary, Boris devoted a lot of time to sports. Two abandoned chess because the third played much worse.Delicacy was manifested even in such trifles as not occupying someone else's clothes hook. In communication, they forbade themselves to give advice, at first they thought, then they talked, and at the end of the experiment they almost stopped talking.


Michelle Cifr

In the West, experiments began in the caves and alone. Michel Sifr “self-isolated” for two months in 1962 and six months in ten years. The second experiment was harder - the player broke, water flooded books and scientific equipment. The mouse, accidentally caught up in supplies, has long been a source of joy, but Michelle inadvertently killed her. On that day, a diary entry “despair overwhelms me” appeared in the diary. In 1989, Stefania Follini spent 130 days in the cave. In 1993, Maurizio Montalbini sat in a cave for a year, but his second attempt to spend it underground for three years ended in failure.

Creepy isolation experiments were performed on monkeys - as a result, animals lost the ability to communicate, mate and take care of the cubs, and two monkeys stopped eating and died of starvation. Not everyone was able to return to normal after the experiment.

When the ISS program began, the European Space Agency and NASA did not have their experience of long flights, and they turned to the Russian IBMP RAS. As a result, the experiments HUBES (3 people, 135 days, 1994-1995), ECOPSY (90 days, 1995) and the final SFINCSS (7 groups of different numbers, isolation from 7 to 240 days) were successfully conducted.


Participants in the Mars 500 experiment

The great achievement was the successful completion of the 520-day experiment “Mars-500” in 2011. Six people, Alexei Sityov, Alexander Smoleevsky, Sukhrob Kamolov (Russia), Charles Romain (France), Diego Urbina (Italy) and Van Yue (China) provided valuable knowledge for the future Martian expedition. After him there were no such lengthy experiments, but work continues. In 2015, for eight days, a completely female crew “flew” to the Moon. In 2019, the 120-day SIRIUS experiment took place, in which a long lunar expedition was simulated with the work of participants on the surface and in orbit.


Crew “Kon-Tiki”, Tour Heyerdahl far left

Scientists also use non-cosmic experience - polar explorers, submariners, pilots. There are gloomy stories when a lack of knowledge and preparation led to tragedies - the Grill 1881-1884 expedition even mentioned the execution of one of the polar explorers. In the limited space of a wintering ship or camp, people went crazy, killed, committed suicide and died due to conflict and contention. Amundsen wrote of “expeditionary rabies,” the very same action of isolation on the psyche that scientists are now studying. Of course, there were successful expeditions in which problems were defeated by experience and preparation. In addition to the Arctic and Antarctic, the expeditions of Tour Heyerdahl, in which several people spent a long time in the limited space of a raft or a small boat, are a good example. Polar stations are generally operating successfully now,although wild stories can happen in them today - not so long ago a polar explorer stabbed a colleague with a knife for the spoiler of a book he was reading.

Bibliography


If someone decided to follow the advice to filter the content and get acquainted with good thematic cultural artifacts, I can advise the following:

  1. The work of employees of the Institute of Biomedical Medicine RAS. The first part of the material is the processing of a lecture by the leading researcher at the Laboratory of Social and Cognitive Psychology of the SSC RF - IBMP RAS, candidate of psychological sciences Anna Yusupova. And here is one more of her material. There is also a useful post at the Institute of FB.
  2. Live broadcast with astronaut Fedor Yurchikhin, which also raises the topic of isolation.
  3. Diaries of the SIRIUS project
  4. Yu.A. Gagarin, V.I. Lebedev - “Psychology and Cosmos” . Publishing house "Young Guard" guarantees the absence of horrors.
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