Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - Bedtime on the International Space Station

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Starting point is 00:01:27 and sign up, follow the link for Get Sleepy Premium in the show notes, or you can subscribe directly with in Apple podcasts. Thanks so much for your support. Welcome to Get Sleepy, where we listen, we relax and we get sleepy. As always, I'm your host, Thomas. Thanks so much for tuning in. In tonight's sleepy story, I'll guide you through an evening aboard the International Space Station. We'll discover what it would be like to live out in space and follow an astronomical bedtime routine. All the details in this story are drawn from things real NASA astronauts have shared, and we've endeavored to give you an accurate account on life up there.

Starting point is 00:02:32 That said, times do change, and so do space stations, so keep in mind that one astronaut's experience may not be exactly that of another. Let's take a moment to get nicely settled into bed. Make sure you're comfortable, lying in whichever position feels best right now. And just enjoy the feeling of your head being supported by your pillow. Your muscles resting and recovering from the day. And allow your eyes to become heavier, letting them close if they haven't already. As you drift into the comfort of bed and the sensation of sleepiness, allow your breathing to slow, drawing the air in fully, and easing it back out nice and steadily. And gently back out.

Starting point is 00:04:11 As you continue in that soothing pattern, allow your body to enjoy those natural, consistent processes of breathing. And imagine that with each breath, you become more and more weightless. As if your gradually leaving Earth's atmosphere, escaping the force of gravity, one breath at a time. Up and up, feeling All pressure or tension in the muscles eases away as you calmly enjoy a greater sense of freedom, a pleasant, weightless sensation. And with that, let your mind drift away from where you are. High above your bed, above your home, your continent, zooming all the way out on planet Earth. Way up here aboard the International Space Station is where our story begins. Imagine yourself in a small room with a few colleagues getting ready for dinner. There are no plates on the little table before you.

Starting point is 00:06:40 Instead there's a selection of meal pouches stuck down with Velcro and you're floating in mid-air. This is what life is like on the International Space Station. The astronauts and their day with a meal of dehydrated food plus a few treats like fresh fruit or vegetables if a shuttle has arrived recently. That's because they don't have a good way to store fresh produce on the space station. When a shuttle or cargo ship arrives, it delivers some fruits and vegetables for the residents to enjoy for a while. After that, they're back to the shelf stable, pre-packaged variety. If you lived on the space station, you would eat a set of prepared packaged meals designed

Starting point is 00:07:50 to give you balanced nutrition and a reasonably varied menu. Many of your options would be dehydrated meals, like the ones campers sometimes take on backpacking trips. Have you ever tried the astronaut ice cream? They sometimes sell at gift shops. Well, your meals wouldn't taste anything like that. The reason is that real astronauts on the space station add water to their dehydrated food. The water helps the food rehydrate, meaning it returns to a similar consistency

Starting point is 00:08:37 as regular food, rather than staying hard and dry. In fact there's a special setup in the kitchen where an astronaut can connect a pouch to add just the right amount of warm water to rehydrate that particular dish. So if you were on the space station when dinner time came around, you'd pick a meal from those remaining. Then you'd connect the pouch and rehydrate it as needed. Once the food absorbed the water, you'd open it up and eat. You might add a bit of sauce for some extra flavour, or maybe liquid salt or liquid pepper.

Starting point is 00:09:38 You couldn't use regular table salt or dry spice powder, mind you. That would just float around in microgravity. You might also have some special extras, favorite foods that you brought along or that family sent you on a cargo delivery, little treats to have when you chose. If you brought out one of these treats at dinner time, you'd certainly share it with your colleagues. That's because dinner on the space station is a social affair. In fact, early space researchers realized that daily rituals, like real shared meals, were important to morale. They were so important that the space agencies devised a space station dinner table so everyone

Starting point is 00:10:44 could eat together. After all, in a weightless environment, there's no real need for a table to hold food off the floor like we have on earth. And early space travelers just ate any old way, floating around, maybe even letting their food float in front of them. Speaking of floating food, there are some things that just aren't so great to have on the space station. Bread is a good example. Fluffy bread takes up too much room for the amount of nutrition it provides. It also produces too many crumbs. It's expensive and difficult to get anything off the earth and into space. On missions to the space station, every ounce and every centimeter counts.

Starting point is 00:11:58 All the food that sent to space has to be long-lasting and has to deliver good nutritional value for its size. So rather than bread, astronauts on the space station eat tort't be dry and crumbly. That's because crumbs would just float and drift around in the air, getting breathed in by the astronauts or getting into their eyes. For that reason, most space station meals involve a bit of liquid like tomato sauce, curry sauce or stew. Liquids have surface tension. For example, that's what makes water on a plastic spoon, bead up and form bubbles. Without enough gravity to keep food on a spoon or fork, the surface tension of source at

Starting point is 00:13:17 least helps hold the food together in a clump. This clump then either sticks to a spoon or floats where you can eat out of the air in front of you. In contrast, a spoonful of dry cereal would fly apart and spread out in all directions, like a cloud of dust. When you were donating your dinner, you would push yourself off away from the table and float out of the room. That's how you'd get around the corridors and rooms of the space station. Without the effects of gravity, you're essentially weightless, as are all the other objects on

Starting point is 00:14:13 the station. You and they simply float, unless tethered down. So, to go to places, you'd push and pull yourself along to keep your momentum carrying you in your preferred direction. Along the walls there are bars placed at strategic intervals. You would use these to maneuver along or to stop yourself. You could also slip your feet under one of these bars to simulate standing up straight when you didn't feel like floating in place anymore. in place anymore. The International Space Station is about the size of a football field.

Starting point is 00:15:12 It has two bathrooms, workout equipment and the shared kitchen, plus sleeping quarters. It also has numerous laboratories where the astronauts carry out scientific research. The station truly is international. A partnership of space agencies from different countries operate it and provides the components to keep it running. The principal space agencies involved are those of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The agencies launched the first part of the space station in 1998 and they've added on since then. Poised about 250 miles up above the earth, the station orbits so fast that it circles the planet every hour and a half.

Starting point is 00:16:35 There have been astronauts living on the space station since late in the year 2000. They come from numerous countries and generally spend several months or even a year living in orbit before being replaced by other astronauts. Typically, there are about seven people living and working on the station at any one time, but this varies during crew changeovers. but this varies during crew changeovers. In 2009, 13 astronauts visited the station at once, a record for the most people in space at one time. So, what would it be like living on the International Space Station? Once you've finished your dinner, where would you go, and what would you do as you wound

Starting point is 00:17:35 down towards bedtime? Perhaps when you left the kitchen area, you might go to the window to watch the sunset. You would pull yourself along to the cupola, a round dome of enormous windows that faces the earth. As you came from the kitchen, the opening to the cupola might seem to be below you, although direction doesn't mean much when you're weightless. To enter the cupola, you could just jump into it, pushing off so that you shot down into the round room. There, you could flip yourself upside down

Starting point is 00:18:31 so that the windows and earth would nowazed out of the windows surrounding you. Drifting clouds and blue ocean would likely make up much of your view. But as you watched, you might pick out continents and countries. You might make up the shape of the coasts far below. Depending on where the space station was in its orbit, you might need to wait a bit for the sunset, but it's certain you wouldn't wait too long. At the speed the station goes around the earth. There are 16 sunsets and 16 sunrises every day. You might see the sun go down over the Indian Ocean or the South Pacific. And this would be a sunset like you've never seen before. The setting star would cast its glow of gold and pink against the creating a sweeping panorama far grander than you can ever see on earth.

Starting point is 00:20:07 And the colours, without atmosphere to fill to the light, and without dust and particles to dull it, you would witness the full brilliance of the vision. A glory, the earthbound never even knew they were missing. Then, when the sunset was over, you might pull yourself away from the stunning views of your home planet, ready to begin your bedtime routine. You could turn yourself upside down once more, then push off and fly back up out of the cuper to the other corridors beyond. There, you might pause to gaze out a portal for a very different view. Here, instead of looking down on the enormous ball of the earth, you would peer out into space. Stars would glitter as far as you can see, and galaxies would shine with that same unimaginable brilliance. But then, you'd need to get a move on. Bedtime is a serious affair on the International Space Station.

Starting point is 00:21:48 The astronauts need to preserve their health and ensure they're in a good state to work. When it's time for rest, the windows are covered to block out the ever-rising sun for a few hours. Here at home, perhaps you like to take a shower or bath before you go to bed. If you lived on the space station, that ritual wouldn't be anything like the showers and baths you're used to on Earth. There would be no stream of hot water flowing down over you, or a tub of water to sink into.

Starting point is 00:22:40 In fact, that'd be very little water at all. In microgravity, water wouldn't go down or stay down, and it couldn't find the drain. Instead, the water would just bend up into blobs in the air, looking like big bubbles, and drift slowly around, not much good for rinsing or soaking. Plus, water is a precious resource that's also extremely limited on the space station. So in space, washing time is more like taking a floating sponge bath. For your sponge bath, you would add warm water to a pouch of special soap. This kind of soap was first developed for use in hospitals and doesn't need to be rinsed off.

Starting point is 00:23:48 Then, you'd squirt this soapy water onto a washcloth or towel and use it to rub yourself clean. To wash your hair, you could also squirt a little water and some no-rints shampoo onto your head. Lather it up all over and then wipe it off with a towel. You could even wash your hair with your shirt on if you wanted to, in microgravity the water wouldn't drip down onto your clothes, so they'd stay perfectly dry. You would brush your hair afterwards, but you probably wouldn't get into any elaborate styling.

Starting point is 00:24:48 tend to any elaborate styling. That's because on the space station, your hair would just float up around you. If it was any longer than a buzz cut, your style might be more of the mad scientist look. At any rate, whether you're an evening shower person or not, you'd certainly brush your teeth before bed. And this ritual too would look a bit different on the space station. To start with, you'd need to use what one astronaut has called a space tooth brush. You may be wondering what a space tooth brush is and how it's different from a regular one. Well, truth be told, it's actually not that different. A regular toothbrush needs just one small adaptation to make it a space toothbrush. It needs a bit of velcro on the back. Just about everything on the space station is outfitted with Velcro, so the astronauts can

Starting point is 00:26:07 put the items down or stick them to a wall without worrying about them drifting off. To brush your teeth in space, you'd get out your toothbrush and toothpaste with their bits of velcro. You'd squeeze out your toothpaste into the air, upwards if you wanted, or downwards. It would form a perfect line of paste floating out from the tube, whichever way you squeezed. floating out from the tube, whichever way you squeezed. Luckily though, toothpaste is sticky enough to stay on the toothbrush. Next, you'd carefully squirt some water on top, which would stick to the toothbrush too, thanks to that handy surface tension.

Starting point is 00:27:08 Then the actual brushing wouldn't be so different from at home. But when you finished brushing and rinsing, you'd have to either spit into a paper towel or swallow the toothpaste. Once you've finished your nightly routine, it would be time to hit the sack. And on the International Space Station, this saying is more literal than it is here at home. The astronauts really do have sleep sacs to zip themselves into, which are attached to the wall in small sleep chambers that serve as their individual bedrooms. The sleep sacs are like sleeping bags, except that they have holes for the astronaut's arms.

Starting point is 00:28:09 The sacks are affixed to the walls in what might look like an upright position, but without gravity to pull on their bodies, it doesn't matter which way they're positioned when they go to bed. Wherever they face, they are sleeping on air. On earth, they might toss and turn if there's a lump in the bed, or to take the pressure of their shoulders or hips. But that doesn't happen in space. In microgravity, even the princess with the pee could sleep like a baby. Take a moment to imagine it now. If you were on the space station, you'd pull yourself into your comfortable bed chamber, which would always be a pleasant temperature thanks to the station's climate

Starting point is 00:29:16 controls. You'd drift softly as you pulled yourself inside your sleep sack. You'd maneuver the bag around you and zip it up, feeling its warmth but none of its weight. It would hug you ever so lightly as you slipped your arms through the holes, giving you perfect freedom of movement. And then you would float, hovering gently, just tethered lightly by the back, floating independently, yet held in place with the lightest touch. A pleasant mix of freedom and security. It gives a new meaning to drifting off to sleep. For those who are attached to their pillows, there are removable cushions stuck on the head of the sleeping bag.

Starting point is 00:30:32 You could use this to secure your head against the cushion and recreate that familiar sensation of resting on a pillow if you wished. That's because the cushions have a wide band attached, which you would slip around your head to hold in position. Over your eyes, the band would function as a sleep mask while also keeping you and your pillow in cozy contact. Once you're inside your sleep sack, your arms would float up, waitless outside the confines of the warm sleeping bag. back. Snug in your back, you can indulge in your preferred bedtime wind down. The astronauts have computer stations inside their bedrooms where they can work, watch, read or browse. They can also put up favourite photographs and secure personal items to the wall. They may keep books, a while. You might let yourself slip away into an absorbing novel. It would carry you off into another world as you followed the characters on their

Starting point is 00:32:21 adventures. Although no fictional adventure could be more fantastical than your own adventure living in space. You might put on some soft music, something soothing soothing and familiar, or perhaps you'd even listen to a story like this one. In the background, the gentle wear of the Space Station's machinery would keep you company, providing a soothingly consistent white noise. After a while, you might slip in air plugs, plunging yourself into a pleasant realm of muffled quiet. And then, at last, you might allow yourself a period of just resting, doing nothing, floating towards sleep. You could meditate or allow your mind to wander, reminding yourself gently to let any worries wait for the morning.

Starting point is 00:33:54 This would be a time to permit yourself to relax and to wind down towards sleep without any pressure. You wouldn't put any pressure on your mind, just like there wouldn't be any pressure on your body as you float it in the weightlessness of space. With your eyes lightly closed, you would revel with your whole body and mind in this freeing feeling. Nothing pulling on you, nothing weighing you down. As your body floated, so too would your mind. You would feel so incredibly light as both physical and emotional weights lifted away from your shoulders. Even your hair would drift softly hovering around your head and ears, rather than lying on them.

Starting point is 00:35:20 And if you preferred to skip the pillow, your head itself would experience this same novel sensation as it hovered lightly against the soft cushion, rather than resting upon it. Your mind might drift to the stars outside. Your thoughts could wander and mingle with the beautiful inky darkness, with brilliant points of light scattered in every direction. After all, the view in space unhindered by atmosphere makes it possible to see all the stars around you, all the countless pimprix of light shining uninterrupted in every direction. You may think about the exquisite splendor of the universe, its majesty and its mystery. and its mystery. The wonder and beauty of it all would suffuse you and you would recognize your own place and your own belonging within the glorious distance of existence.

Starting point is 00:37:08 And as your mind merged with the vastness of the universe, your consciousness would expand and melt into the limitlessness around you until your conscious mind surrendered and you slipped into a blissful, peaceful state of rest. Here aboard the International Space Station. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... you ... ... you ... you you ... you you

Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - Bedtime on the International Space Station

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