A regular routine, useful work to do and as varied a diet as possible. Those are the essential elements recommended by former astronaut Pedro Duque to help keep the miners trapped underground in Chile healthy and sane while they wait for rescue.

Whether it’s 700 metres underground or kilometres above the earth in the stratosphere, some of the problems faced by groups of people isolated together in a confined space will be the same. That’s why Chile has asked the US space agency NASA for advice on assisting the 33 men trapped underground by the collapse of the main access tunnel at the San Jose mine in Copiapo.

Today's footage of the trapped Chilean miners (article continues below):

Listen to the interview with Pedro Duque here.

“If there are elements of life that can be made as normal as possible, then let’s do it. So for example, a timetable. Obviously down there there’s no need to wake up at a certain time but let’s do it! Let’s make a 24-hour day; let’s keep a normal life in that sense. It has been proven, at least with our people, that the largest possible variety of food helps enormously psychologically. Sometimes psychological things depend on very small elements that occur repeatedly.”

What if…?
The trapped miners have now been told that it will take a long time to rescue them and officials are watching closely for any negative reaction to the news. Most reports on the health of the men are positive. However, Chilean health Minister Jaime Manalich has said that three or four of the men do have some “problems” and are falling prey to anxiety. It’s a feeling familiar to Mr Duque.

"The worst thing is somehow to allow yourself to start thinking the wrong thoughts. You have to be kept at a certain routine of working and having stuff to do every day. So that you don’t start rambling in your mind about what if this doesn’t work, what if the ceiling falls on me, what if…It’s the same in a spaceship, the same thing, what if a piece of a satellite strikes this space station and it breaks up. You shouldn’t think about these things."

Helping themselves
The best thing, according to Mr Duque would be if the men could in some way be involved in their own rescue – and it seems that will indeed be the case. Drilling a shaft to reach them will dislodge a constant hail of falling rocks, which they’ll be expected to clear. Rescuers are going to supply the men with shovels and are designing a system to confine the debris and dust away from the main living area. It’s this kind of productive, meaningful occupation that will contribute to their mental well being says Mr Duque, not just sending down a Playstation to keep them amused.

“These are professionals, so they should do whatever they can in the way of mining. And I would personally suggest trying something with the psychologists that they could do. Take this as an experiment. It has happened and nothing can be done about it, so use them as the subject of a psychological experiment and then they can think that they are at least doing something for science.”

Acting as a scientific guinea pig probably isn’t anyone’s idea of a dream job, but if it helps them get through the long weeks of their subterranean confinement it may just be one the 33 miners are happy to take on.