Monday 11 August 2008

How to Grow a Super-Athlete

A while ago an article really inspired me because it explained very clearly why people who do well at sports often practice in a very deliberate and patient way. Something which I'm not the best at.

The trouble is I didn't have this blog to record it and I couldn't find any note about it. Anyway I finally found it after a long search. The article is called How to Grow a Super-Athlete and describes the impact of ground breaking new work uncovering how our nerves grow to provide super fast reaction times.

What fascinated me most was the in depth explanation of the physical process in which our nervous system actually learn. The concept is very much of a system of wiring that continually add new links to provider faster and stronger communication links where a need is identified. Also the wiring system itself is made faster when demand is identified by increasing the electrical insulation provided. In english this means reducing interference on each wire from the surrounding area ensuring the signal travelling along the nerve (wire) is strong and pure. This is also believed to make the signal travel faster.

No comments: