Adherence to exercise has long been a bane of the modern human experience, despite its litany of extolled virtues. A variety of strategies have developed over the decades to encourage us to stick with our fitness goals, but as technology improves the fidelity of the virtual world to the real one, many once-implausible strategies are becoming plausible.
Team dynamics, an engaging environment, and a personalized program are just a few of the strategies which can be combined and employed using a virtual reality system. Imagine: instead of looking at the inside of a ship’s hull for six months, you could don a helmet and join any number of other participants (real or virtual) across any distance or time while you work out.
This study will examine the efficacy and viability of such a technology using already-established exercise protocols from the International Space Station and previous NASA studies. This research will be done in collaboration with former astronaut Dr. Gregory Chamitoff’s ASTRO Center and the Human Clinical Research Facility.