We Want to See if There is a Correlation Between Stress and the Microbiome for Pilots and Astronauts and if we Can Find a Way to Optimize This Balance for Pilots so That They Can Maximize Aerodynamic Decision Making on the Flight Deck.

Role of the Microbiome in Regulating Stress Response in Pilots, a Means of Determining Optimal Diets for Fighter Pilots and Airline Pilots

Registry	NCT07829159
Status	Not yet recruiting
Study type	Observational
Enrollment	20 (Estimated)
Sponsor	University of Nebraska (Other)
Conditions	Stress and Performance
Interventions	Flight simulator (Behavioral)
Dates	start 2026-09-01 (estimated), primary completion 2026-10-30 (estimated), completion 2026-11-01 (estimated), first posted 2026-09-18, last updated 2026-09-18

-Summary

We are going to test the bacteria growing in your intestine to see if they can influence your ability to manage stress while flying an airplane.

Arm	Type	Interventions	Description
Pilots		Behavioral: Flight simulator	18-25 year old aviation students

Flight simulator (Behavioral), also known as Aeronautical Simulation: Use of flight simulator

Microbial activity relationship to stress tolerance. [30 minute simulation]: Correlation of microbiome with stress tolerance in flight simulation.
Microbial metabolic pathways [30 minute simulation.]: We will evaluate the correlation between microbial strains and their metabolic activity with the ability to handle stressful situations in a flight simulator.

Sex: All, ages: 18 Minutes to 25 Years, accepts healthy volunteers

Inclusion Criteria:

* Healthy instrument rated pilot

Exclusion Criteria:

* Mental illness, chronic inflammatory disease, gastrointestinal disease.