Optimal human living conditions

samy · 2007-10-23 02:40:02

Humor this hypothesis:

What if a human being's optimal living conditions are *not* terrestrial?

In that case, what would be our optimal living conditions?

Gravity: Is 1g optimal for humans? Wouldn't higher gs produce more stress and strain, and thus automatically produce a workout for everybody during the day? For example, 1.1 or 1.2g -- would an environment like that produce a "Bold and the Beautiful" civilization where everybody is in perfect physical shape? Wouldn't higher gs, with their musculature-enhancing effects, lower heart disease and other diseases of sedentary life? And if so, what would be the optimum? A 5g planet is probably too much, a 1g planet too little -- what might we humans want, for a good steady constant workout, but not to a damaging degree?

Pressure: Is 1bar optimal for humans? A lot of athletes train at higher altitudes in order to improve the oxygen processing rates of their blood. An athlete who acclimated to high altitudes can run faster, for longer, than their higher-pressure brethren. Might the optimal air pressure for humans be something other than 1bar? On the other hand, the athletes only receive their advantage when they come out of that low-pressure area into the high-pressure area. If the entire environment available is low-pressure, does that give any long-term benefits -- or even the opposite, does it damage us? Do high-altitude communities have lower scholastic performance or better?

Temperature: There's little arguing that 15-20C is pretty ideal for humans. But most environments on Earth receive a lot of fluctuation, both diurnal and seasonal. Would an environment that stays at a *constant* 15-20C (through whatever means) be better for humans, or are the fluctuations necessary to us?

Other aspects: (please add others)

Sum all of these together:

What is our optimal living planet?

Tom Kalbfus · 2007-10-23 08:29:19

The human body wasn't designed to endure prolonged periods of higher G. While you will get a workout just by walking, stronger does not necessarily mean healthier or longer living.

samy · 2007-10-23 08:40:57

So permanent 1.1g would kill somebody?

Spatula · 2007-10-23 15:01:34

So permanent 1.1g would kill somebody?

No, you'd barely notice the difference. Much higher than that probably.

Don't think that higher gravity necessarily means stronger muscles/bones. It could mean exactly the opposite, with the body fatiguing, growing really short and losing a lot of mass to stay comfortable in the strong Gs.

That would be really high though. Anything between 0.75-1.25 should probably feel right at home. That's the difference between walking around with a heavy backpack or with a strong wind.

Austin Stanley · 2007-10-23 15:30:04

I guess it depends on what you mean by optimal. On Earth human civilization has reached the point that the environment in which you live generally does not have a significant impact on your life expectancy. Or rather other effects such as quality of health care in the region, common genetics in population groups, and culture influences on lifestyle completely mask any such effects. Life expectancies in most developed nations are vary similar.

That said, we should expect life at different pressures and especially gravities to have significant effects on human health. One might expect life at a lower gravity to produce a lesser strain on the heart, and thus lead to lower incidence of heart attacks (the #1 killer in developed countries IIRC). On the other hand lower gravity might lead to a less powerful and more atrophied heart, which might counteract these effects. It might also lead to a increased numbers of overweight and obese people, which would also counteract any benefits.

Higher gravity would probably lead to an increased rate of injury due to accidents. At G's not much higher then 1.5 or so even walking or sitting an lead to injury. Of course lower G's might lead to a loss in bone density, which would could also result in increased injuries. Especially in aging women.

All in all these effects are hard to determine in advance. The human body is quite adaptable, but to truly get a good idea of what living conditions are "optimal" you would have to do some long term studies on largish population groups. I do think the health effects of life at different G's could be significant, though I wouldn't wager a guess as to in which way.

One thing is fairly certain is that minor variations in the atmosphere we breath are not likely to have insignificant health effects. We have lots of good data for people living in long periods of times in different atmosphere's and there doesn't appear to be any long-term significant effects. Life at lower partial pressures of O2 leads to more red-blood cells, which might makes you "healthier" but doesn't necessarily mean you live longer. Likewise, higher pressure atmospheres develop stronger lung muscles (diaphragm) but this doesn't necessarily correlate with increased life span either.

samy · 2007-10-23 19:36:36

All in all these effects are hard to determine in advance. The human body is quite adaptable, but to truly get a good idea of what living conditions are "optimal" you would have to do some long term studies on largish population groups.

Oh, absolutely, but I'm not asking for *knowledge*, I'm just providing a springboard for some fun speculation.

Speculate, go nuts.

Commodore · 2007-10-23 20:54:37

A permanent change will only produce a new normal.

What is really interesting is using temporary changes to impact an initial landfall. If we had a transit craft capable of simulated gravity, what would happen if we slowly ramped up the gravity to 1.25g before landing? Reduced the pressure slightly?

Would our astronauts perform better?

m1omg · 2007-11-08 14:47:47

Another crazy idea.Sorry, no offense, but I sometimes feel like the people on this forum are smoking pot while writing.Breathing air composed of 78 percent water vapor, alien condition as "better"...
Our optimal enviroment is Earth, because we evolved there.We are "fine tuned" to Earthlike enviroment.Of course changes like having 1.1 G instead of 1 G gravity or 24 or 19 percents of oxygen instead of common 21 percents will not harm anyone but are absolutelly useless apart from increasing/reducing your life expectancy by 5 seconds....

Terraformer · 2007-11-10 12:39:06

Breathing air composed of 78 percent water vapor,

I was merely wondoring whether it would be possible. I wouldn't go straight in and do it without knowing whether I'd die first.

Antius · 2007-11-12 01:45:29

You do not need to breath an atmosphere of 78% water vapour.

A pure oxygen atmosphere with pressure 350mbar will produce the same concentration of oxygen in human blood as Earth's atmosphere.

Terraformer · 2007-11-16 08:04:11

It was for terraforming planets that are far away from the sun (increasing the greenhouse effect.)

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#1 2007-10-23 02:40:02

Re: Optimal human living conditions

#2 2007-10-23 08:29:19

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#3 2007-10-23 08:40:57

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#4 2007-10-23 15:01:34

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#5 2007-10-23 15:30:04

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#6 2007-10-23 19:36:36

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#7 2007-10-23 20:54:37

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#8 2007-11-08 14:47:47

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#9 2007-11-10 12:39:06

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