Wow, I thought I needed to be a little mobile to make a living, but apparently not. NASA is allegedly offering $5,000 a month for folks to lie in a bed! They will let you play computer games while you're reclining.

I suppose it would be nice to have a break from working, walking, and standing required by, you know....life. Pack up your bags and head to Houston beacuse NASA wants to pay you $17,000 to stay in bed for 90 straight days. The bed-rest experiment will take place in the "Human Test Subject Facility" of the Johnson Space Center and is designed to allow scientists to study some of the effects of "microgravity" on the human body. The idea will be to have subjects lying in bed for 90 days (except for specified testing) with their body slightly tilted downward (head down, feet up). Every day, they will be awake for 16 hours and lights out and asleep for 8 hours. (Can you read under the covers with a flashlight?).

They want to try to mitigate what actually happens to astronauts who've spent lenghty stays in space as they suffer  serious problems from the gravitational forces...the reduced "g" force does a number on muscles and causes atrophy and bone density issues. It can take the astonauts months to readjust once they return to Earth.

So, if you have three months to spare, sign up....you will have to pass an Air Force medical examination, blood tests, and a boredom test!

For patients, immobilization has a lot of risk factors.....take care to follow good and basic practices for turning at least every two hours, back rubs and massages to bony prominences, good nutrition and pulmonary exercises of deep breathing. The National Patient Safety goals emphasize prevention, and attention to these standards will indeed promote good outcomes for our patients.