#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. Despite high situational anxiety, women participants in the Arctic floating university (AFU) expedition have adapted better to the conditions of the Arctic and the sea. This is the conclusion reached by scientists conducting research on people’s adaptation to stress on board the Professor Molchanov vessel.
As TASS writes, scientists are studying changes in the content of biologically active substances (catecholamines, hormones, vitamins) and psychoemotional state. The study involved 24 women and 16 men aged 19 to 56 years, who underwent testing, studied heart rate variability, and took biological fluid tests.
“No significant changes in the adaptation potential in the dynamics of the voyage were found separately for men and women, however, in the middle of the voyage, a decrease in the proportion of people with tension in the adaptation mechanisms was observed among women, due to which significant differences in the adaptation potential by gender were noted. In men, at the end of the voyage, the proportion of people with unsatisfactory adaptation increases”, said Alexandra Elfimova, senior researcher at the Tkachev Endocrinology Laboratory of the Federal Research Center for Comprehensive Arctic Studies of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
At the same time, women demonstrated a higher level of situational or reactive anxiety at each stage of the voyage. Scientists will determine the content of catecholamines and hormones in biological fluids on shore, during the laboratory stage of the expedition.
“The data on the hormonal indicators dynamics will be compared with the heart rate variability indicators, anxiety level and adaptation potential, which will help to comprehensively consider the stages of adaptation of the voyage participants to the conditions of the Arctic expedition”, Alexandra Elfimova clarified.
The field stage of the expedition is complete. Professor Molchanov vessel passed the White, Barents and Pechora seas, visited the Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya archipelagos, Kolguyev island. Difficult ice conditions repeatedly forced it to change the route.
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Text: Victor Borodin, Photo: AFU
