The course consists of lectures, seminars, demonstrations and literature studies regarding acceleration, diving, high altitude and thermophysiology and deals with the following:
- Physical laws and relationships, including terminology and nomenclature, used in environmental physiology.
- Effects of continuous exposure to increased gravitational force (G-load) on heart and peripheral blood vessels, lungs, skeleton, the vestibular organ, and the central nervous system.
- Techniques that are used by pilots to help them tolerate high G-loads.
- Mechanisms of spatial disorientation during flying
- Effects of reduced gravitational force (micro gravitation) on heart and peripheral blood vessels, lungs, skeleton, the vestibular organ, and the central nervous system.
- Methods to counteract the functional and structural changes caused by long space flights on heart/blood vessels, muscles, and skeleton. Symptoms of hypoxia and physiological responses during acute (hours/days) altitude exposures.
- Adaptive mechanisms during long term (days/weeks) and chronic altitude exposures.
- Symptoms, underlying mechanisms and treatment of "acute mountain sickness" (AMS), "high altitude pulmonary edema", "high altitude cerebral edema" (HACE) and "chronic mountain sickness (Monge’s Disease".
- Adjustment of circulation and respiration during immersion in water.
- Physiological effects of large hydrostatic pressures and gas pressures with special emphasis on "high pressure neurological syndrome", oxygen toxicity, and nitrogen narcosis.
- Problems of decompression in the form of barotrauma and decompression sickness.
- The structure and function of the thermoregulatory system in man.
- Thermoregulation in connection with heat stress/physical exercise, and symptoms and mechanisms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
- Thermoregulation in connection with cold stress, and symptoms and mechanisms of local cold injury and general hypothermia.