Antarctica and the hibernating brain; The interaction between mental fatigue, hypoxia, exercise and sleep in an isolated confined and extreme environment

In the present project we aim to follow up psychological (e.g., state questionnaires related to mental fatigue, sleepiness, coping strategies and mood state), (neuro)physiological (e.g., polysomnography, heart rate during exercise, genotypes and arterial oxygen saturation) and behavioural (e.g., actigraphy and activity diary) parameters of mental fatigue, sleep and physical fitness throughout an Antarctic overwintering. As we did before, we will focus on assessing the interindividual differences and evaluating the stability of these differences in time. In the end, we will provide additional fundamental insights in mental fatigability and sleep. In addition, we will have evaluated the efficacy of two mental fatigability countermeasures; 1) acetazolamide supplementation and 2) oxygen-enriched physical exercise.

Coordinator

This project is funded by the BELSPO PRODEX program of the Belgian Federal Science Office.