Fig. 3.

Individualized countermeasures (ICount) to mitigate adverse neurobehavioral effects. To mitigate the neurobehavioral risks associated with long-duration spaceflight, a comprehensive “toolbox” of countermeasures is needed. The figure lists some examples that will play a critical role in reducing the risks of adverse cognitive and behavioral effects and psychiatric disorders during long-duration expeditions. Some of the countermeasures listed such as exercise, videogaming, diet and nutritional supplementation, sleep hygiene, and self-adapted visuo-spatial learning tasks will also help to maintain hippocampal plasticity and spatial cognition. The relationships between individual countermeasures will vary between and within individuals. The relative importance of specific strategies will vary during the course of mission, requiring a constant reevaluation of the crewmembers’ individual needs. Note that the figure is a schematic illustration, and the weights of the interventions are used to reflect their dynamic nature through an expedition, but do not suggest any importance of one countermeasure over the other