Is Cryosleep Possible?
Written by Pooja Gopinathrao
Do you ever imagine drifting into a deep sleep and waking up centuries later with a world, years in the future? Many see these stories on the screens of their favorite science fiction movies, which brings up the question of whether is it possible. Is cryosleep possible? How close are we to turning this dream into reality?
What is Cryosleep?
Cryosleep is preserving the physical human body at a very low temperature, to restore it to life one day in the future, looking the same. In cryosleep, those who went to sleep would awake looking as young as they were when they went to sleep. No aging would occur, only time would pass. If humanity does come up with a way to cryosleep, many ill patients could be saved and it would make interstellar travel way easier.
What Happens to the Human Body?
To cryosleep, bodies have to be at a very low temperature like -200 Celsius or absolute zero (238 degrees Fahrenheit or (minus 460 F)) and be placed in a container or pod of liquid nitrogen. Our body temperature needs to be 8 degrees lower than its usual 98° F (36.6° C to 32° C). This makes this type of cooling situation- between hibernation and hypothermia. This hibernation provokes the body to naturally keep itself cold. If the body is in hypothermia, it will try to shiver the body back to normal temperature; a hibernating body will not.
Has it Ever Worked?
Cryosleep hasn’t ever occurred- it’s not natural. Humanity doesn’t have the machines, the science worked out, and the technology for that, yet. However, hibernation has! An injured man in the Japanese Rokko Mountains survived 24 days without food or water. His body had gone into this “hibernation.” The mountains were 50° F (10° C) while the man’s body was just 72° F (22° C) (when found). The medical reports claimed that there was no permanent damage: organs slowed and the brain unharmed. That is the idea of cryosleep. In healthcare, this forced state of hibernation is also used to help people recover from cardiac arrests because their chemical reactions, heart rate, brain damage, and metabolism will slow down.
Challenges
A major issue with cryosleep is that our body is fully made up of cells, which are filled with water. In physics and biology, we learn that freezing water expands its molecules. That is why when you freeze a normal bottle of water, it comes out of the freezer puffed up. The millions of cells in our bodies will be frozen, expanding into crystals which would damage the human body.
Relating to space travel, it is very challenging to ensure that the cryogenic fluid is frigid and in a liquid state (to be used). Due to the continued movement; moving in, and out, entirely away from the sun and the environment of low gravity maintaining the fluid's liquid state is very complicated. The heat sources in space, like the Sun, the spacecraft’s exhaust, etc create a hot environment inside and surrounding the storage tanks. This causes evaporation which can increase the risk of leakage, tank rupture, and failure to fuel a rocket engine.
Another issue is preventing aging. The only way to prevent aging is to undergo vitrification. Vitrification is rapid freezing that prevents the water molecules from forming these ice crystals (issue #1). However, the water molecules will turn into this solid glass-like formation. This has been completed in fertility clinics. This is a very big stretch and hasn’t been experimented frequently enough to get familiar with its side effects. Did you know that some companies even offer this service to the dead, so they preserve and protect your body until it can be revived later in the future? Cryosleep is entirely built upon the dream of hope that one day, humanity will be advanced enough to possibly revive our generations from dead bodies. This brings us back to square one, agelessness isn’t possible during sleep as we’d need to preserve ourselves- as the dead.
Conclusion
In overall, Cryosleep remains a dream built on the hope that one day, technology will advance enough to make it a reality. We need a lot of technological advancements to make it a future. Until then, the possibility of waking up ageless in the future remains just science fiction.
References
Alderson, E. “The Truth About Cryosleep - Predict - Medium.” Medium, 15 Dec. 2021, medium.com/predict/the-truth-about-cryosleep-7d114ec22eb5.
Matter, Kelly M. “NASA Uses Innovative Technologies to Address the Challenges of Cryogenic Fluid Management During Sustained.” NASA, 9 Feb. 2024, www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/glenn/brr-its-cold-in-here-nasas-cryo-efforts-beyond-the-atmosphere.
“What Is Cryosleep? Cryonics, Cryosleep and Cryotherapy Explained.” The Medical Futurist, 21 Mar. 2021, medicalfuturist.com/wiki/cryosleep.
Written by Pooja Gopinathrao from MEDILOQUY