Brooks Nader is trading her Baywatch swimsuit for a fur coat as she and her sisters—Mary Holland, Grace Ann, and Sarah Jane—head to Svalbard, Norway, to participate in the first-ever study examining how extreme polar environments affect women’s health.
Conducted in conjunction with the Space Prize Foundation—a nonprofit dedicated to “democratizing the stars” by promoting gender equity and inclusivity in the aerospace industry—as well as researchers at NYU Langone Health and the University of Arizona, the experiment is designed to mimic the cold temps, isolation, and disrupted light-dark cycles experienced by astronauts in outer space. Data will be collected pertaining to the extreme environmental effects on female hormonal balance, menstrual cycles, sleep patterns, and overall physiological adaptation.
Following baseline testing at the University of Arizona’s sleep and circadian laboratory in Tucson—which simulates conditions on the International Space Station—the Nader sisters will embark on a week-long Arctic expedition led by famed polar explorer and wilderness guru Inge Solheim, who completed Prince Harry’s Walking With The Wounded expeditions among other record-setting missions to both the North and South Poles.
As the former Maxim cover model and her fellow Love Thy Nader stars snowmobile and cross-country ski through glacier valleys and fjords with supplies in tow, “portable sleep monitoring and biosample tools” provided by Xtreme Research will be used to collect data. The Naders will also undergo post-travel assessments to analyze recovery and physiological recalibration, completing an experiment that’s designed to “address a critical gap in medical and space-science research, with implications for women’s health on Earth and for the feasibility of human reproduction and long-duration space travel.”
The findings will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at global scientific conferences, including the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms (May 2026) and the SLEEP Meeting (June 2026).
“This partnership brings together explorers, scientists, and advocates to answer one of the most important questions of our time: how women’s bodies respond and adapt to the harshest environments on Earth, and beyond,” said Dr. Sairam Parthasarathy, Director of the Center for Sleep, Circadian and Neuroscience Research at the University of Arizona.
“Despite growing interest in space and polar science, there have been almost no studies on how extreme environmental conditions affect women’s reproductive and circadian health,” added Dr. Reut Sorek-Abramovich, an expert astrobiologist who is collaborating on the experiment. “Previous research has largely focused on men, yet evidence suggests women are more susceptible to sleep disruption and hormonal imbalances under extreme light-dark cycles.”
“This is both a scientific contribution and a cultural statement,” the Naders said in a statement. “We see this as a chance to continue the conversation we’ve been having around women’s health into a new frontier—what our bodies are capable of when tested at the extremes. We hope our participation inspires more women to take part in future research and help grow the data and visibility this field needs.”