Whatever it is that separates mind from body, it is absolutely fascinating. I try to always keep in mind that athletic performance is the result of the human neuro-muscular system, and that the neuro and the muscular share a deep fundamental connection. Even as evidence comes in about the connection the getting the full story still seems far away. Probably, the explanation will be as complex as human beings are. But that is the way it goes when the investigation goes to the very core of how people do all of the things that people can do.
There has been a bunch of mind-body stuff in my reading list lately:
- What Is Fatigue? (newyorker.com)
- Athlete Readiness and the Autonomic Nervous System (Austin Fit Magazine)
- When the going gets tough: Mental toughness and its relationship with behavioural perseverance (Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport)
- Mental Fatigue Impairs Intermittent Running Performance. (Pubmed, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise)
- explain brain (NOI Group, NOI notes)
- The Neurobiology of Cooperation (The Doctor Weighs In blog, Dov Michaeli)
- Exploration versus exploitation in space, mind and society (Trends in Cognitive Sciences)
- Positive Subliminal Messages Could Help You Perform Better (Runner’s World, Newswire)
- How Your State of Mind Affects Your Performance (Harvard Business Review)
- Baltimore’s Reverse Feng Shui: Annoying Locker Neighbors (The Wall Street Journal)
- You’ve been practicing golf all wrong, and there’s science to prove it (Golf Digest)
- Mile Markers: Try Easy (Runner’s World, Zelle)
- Psychology and Athletic Performance (Infographic) from Ohio University (The Coach’s Clipboard)
- Happiness, Bodybuilding, and a Ph.D. (Men’s Fitness)
- Subliminal Messages and the Mystery of Fatigue (Runner’s World, Sweat Science blog)
- DARPA plans to develop implantable devices to monitor, diagnose and treat the nervous system (Factor magazine)
- 9 things I wish people understood about anxiety (Vox)
- Monitoring and Managing Fatigue in Baseball Players (Strength and Conditioning Journal)
The Best Things I Read Last Week:
- Disney Research builds computer models to analyze play in pro basketball and soccer Phys.org … Patrick Lucey at the Disney Research outpost in Pittsburgh continues to advance the computational analysis of sports
- How The Sensors Inside A Fitness Tracker Work WT VOX … A rundown from teardowns of popular fitness devices describing the sensors that are common to all of them.
- Inside Slant: NFL ‘Next Gen Stats’ opens new doors ESPN, NFL Nation Blog … An update on the RFID player tracking technology in use during NFL games.
- Athletes Seek Stem Cell Cures MIT Technology Review … Antonio Regalado has covered stem cells research since 1998, that is the absolute beginning of stem cells research. He told me a long time ago that rich people were travelling outside the U.S. to experiment on themselves with stem cells.
- Better data reporting will prevent sports injuries and deaths The Conversation … Author Caroline Finch is an Australian professor of sports safety. She makes the case that sports injuries should not be seen as freak accidents. If you look for the causes, you will find them.