does zero gravity in space disrupt digestion or effect other organ function??

Question

just curious, seems interesting to know!

Answer 1

Nasa was quite concerned about this during the early days of the space program. They did a lot of testing. As it turns out, weightlessness doesn't affect eating or digesting, but it does affect your circulatory system. Since your body is designed to resist the pooling of blood in your legs due to gravity, when you go into space, blood tends to get squeezed up into your upper body and face, causing your face to look slightly swollen.

If you stay in space long enough, the changes to your circulatory system can cause you problems when you return to gravity. Your blood pressure will get very low, and you'll become dizzy and be unable to walk. Astronauts do special exercises and drink extra water before landing to counteract this.

Another problem that develops if you are in space for many months is the calcium begins to leach out of your bones, making them thin and brittle. Scientists don't know exactly what causes this, but it is a great concern for proposed long duration flights to Mars. Astronauts on the space station do special exercise to try to minimize the bone loss while they are up there.

Answer 2

Try a rollercoaster like Superman The Escape. I hear you get about 3 secs of weightlessness. Also, contrary to what some people have said here, being in water is NOT Zero G. Underwater you still feel the pull of gravity. If you have Scuba gear on and got your buoyancy perfect (ie you stay exactly at a single depth, neither rising or sinking), you kit feels weightless as it is being buoyed up by the water, BUT you can still feel gravity. If you were to spin round so you were on your back (face towards surface) your inner ear would tell you, you were upside down and you would also feel your kit pullling. (I have done over 200 dives so I know this!) VERY IMPORTANT POINT : The methods discussed, rollercoaster and vomit comets, DO NOT PRODUCE ZERO G, they produce a sense of weightlessness. You are in fact using gravity to do this. In a vomit comet the plane is diving at the SAME rate as free fall. Since ALL objects exert a gravitational force on ALL other objects, (you are exerting a graviational force on the chair you are sitting on, it's just very very tiny) it is theoretically impossible ever to experience true ZERO G. I think that people get Weightlessness mixed up with Zero G. The correct phrasing of this question (I suspect) should have been - "Where can you experience weightlessness without going into space?"

Answer 3

That's a good question. I, personally, wouldn't know. From what I have heard the only problem with zero gravity is at first it makes you slightly nauscious(sp).

Just to verify something someone else said. Your muscles in your body control the movement of food and water intake entirely. Gravity has no factor in this equation.

Answer 4

If there is no gravity pushing down the food you could have a problem. However this question is best answer by an expert astronauts.

Answer 5

digestion is not disrupted because you have muscles around that force the movement of stuff so nothing messed up i think