These bedrest volunteers spent three weeks in a bed tilted 6° below the horizontal. They could not stand up unless an experiment demanded it and performed all daily activities in bed, including eating, showering and exercising.

Not only were the volunteers in this study expected to give up small pieces of their thigh muscles in regular biopsies, but they also had to remove themselves from their normal lives three times over the course of the year. During their time in bed, they had no visitors and were expected to complete the session no matter what emergency at home.

Bedrest studies can answer questions on how our bodies adapt to living in space and adapt to growing old.