Space travel's impact on the brain; Viktor Frankl's search for meaning; Contagious stress

All in the Mind

The success of the recent SpaceX launch to the ISS has reignited talk of return manned missions to the moon and onwards to Mars. But beyond well know physiological effects of space travel on our bodies, what do effects of immobility and microgravity have on our brains? A new study offers a detailed insight from 12 fit astronauts subjected to a battery of tests in a microgravity simulator capturing changes in brain images, disrupted sleep rhythms and mood changes and cognition. As Ivana Rosenzweig, Head of the Sleep and Brain Plasticity Centre at Kings College London explains, her work has important implications for understanding astronaut behaviour and capabilities – and more immediately – the long term effects on the brains of Covid 19 patients supported on ventilators.

Viktor E. Frankl, was one of the last of the great Viennese psychotherapists, who used his experiences as a prisoner in German concentration camps in World War II to write ''Man's Search for Meaning,'' an enduring work of survival literature.. A collection of his lectures, Life in Spite of Everything, is now published in English. His writings, lectures and teaching were an important force in forming the modern concept that many factors may be implicated in mental illness - opening the door to a wide variety of psychotherapies. Frankl’s grandson, Alex Vesely, together with the Viennese psychotherapist and former colleague Alfred Lengle, reveal how this newly translated collection of his lectures underpin his ideas about hope, resilience and ways to confront personal suffering, which continues to have great relevance to us in today’s uncertain world.

When parents try to hide their stress, can they still pass on these feelings to their children? Sara Waters at Washington State University has been measuring the extent to which children “catch” their parents’ stress during interaction. The more out of control parents feel - and during a global pandemic that feeling is likely exacerbated- the stronger they have an impulse to reassure their kids that everything is OK. But it may be more comforting for kids to have their feelings discussed than just be told “it's going to be fine”.

Claudia Hammond’s guest is Catherine Loveday Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Westminster.

Producer: Adrian Washbourne