Rodrigo Trevisan Okamoto, the Brazilian engineer and founding partner of the company Condor Instruments, knew that it was very important for the Artemis scientists to monitor the sleep of their astronauts. He also knew that NASA had acquired several activity bracelets marketed by his company years ago, whose objective is precisely to analyze users’ sleep patterns in an exhaustive way.
Still, the news he received on April 1 was a shock and a surprise. Shortly after the Artemis mission took off successfully towards the Moon, received an email stating that some of its astronauts were wearing one of its bracelets.
A bracelet to monitor your sleep. Nowadays there are many watches and bracelets that analyze users’ sleep. However, that of Condor Instrumentscalled Actigraph, has a key difference, since it is capable of detecting different wavelengths of light and establishing patterns with sleep.
Not all colors of light influence our sleep the same way.. Blue light is the one that inhibits our melatonin levels the most and therefore prevents us from sleeping. On the other hand, in the absence of ideal darkness, warm light is a better option when we go to sleep. That’s what this bracelet that the Artemis II crew worked with throughout the mission does.
More information. The bracelet has 10 sensors in total to detect light at different wavelengths. As for sleep and rest patterns, they are analyzed using sensors that detect movement in the arms. Stillness is interpreted as rest and movement as wakefulness. However, we will all agree that this alone is not a good parameter. We can be very still, but awake. However, it also measures other parameters, such as body temperature, which does tend to drop when we are asleep. Everything is analyzed together.
Both in heaven and on Earth. The Actigraph is useful for any type of person. You don’t have to be an astronaut to use an activity bracelet. However, this particular one is especially useful for astronauts because their light-dark cycles are not the same as here on Earth. For example, a night on the Moon lasts around two weeks. On the International Space Station, however, there are several sunrises and sunsets in a single day. For this reason, it is especially interesting to confront sleep patterns with light patterns.
A history with NASA. It is well known that space is not the best place to fall asleep. Not only because of the light issue. Also because it is a very stressful situation and because, in general, there is not much room for intimacy. In addition, it appears that microgravity also affects sleep, although the exact causes have not yet been determined. For all this, in 2023 NASA decided to buy several Actigraph. The Artemis missions were just beginning and they wanted to start looking for ways to analyze astronauts’ sleep for when the first manned voyage took place.
They even met with Okamoto several times. However, at no time was it confirmed that his watches were going to be used. There was a possibility, but he only received confirmation immediately after takeoff. It must have been a high almost as high as the one the astronauts experienced. Okay, maybe I’ve gone too far with the comparison, but surely news like this will feel good to anyone.
Image | NASA/Condor Instruments
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