Sickness induced by head movements after different centrifugal G x -loads and durations

Abstract

It has been found that sustained centrifugation on Earth may evoke sickness symptoms that are similar to those of the Space Adaptation Syndrome (SAS). As in SAS, incidence of this 'Sickness Induced by Centrifugation' (SIC) is about 50% and the symptoms are particularly evoked by head movements. By systematically varying the G-load and duration of centrifugation, the current study investigated the characteristics of the gravitational stimulus that is required for SIC to occur. Subjects were exposed to centrifugation at 2 and 3G_x, for a duration of 45 and 90 minutes. A standardized head movement protocol was used to evoke SIC after centrifugation. The results show that in six out of 12 subjects (50%) no serious symptoms were elicited. In the remaining subjects, the effects of the 3G runs exceeded those of the 2G runs, and within each G-level symptom intensity was higher for the 90 min than for the 45 min exposure. An exponential fit on this data showed that the time constant of adaptation to the gravitational stimulus was about 60 minutes. This suggests that short duration exposures (i.e. < 60 min) are not likely to induce serious SIC.