6 Things to Know About Proprioception

By Derek Mikulski, BS, CSCS, CPT, SFS

Chances are you’ve heard the concept of “mind/body training” or “mind/muscle awareness”. The idea of establishing a better connection between the brain and spinal cord and the muscles (which create movement) has become increasingly popular over the last five years. The brain and spinal chord is where sensory inputs—the nerves used to feel, see, and in other senses come in for processing, and other output nerves, which produce signals to initiate movement, go out. The term “proprioception” has been adopted to describe this connection and the body’s innate ability to determine its position in space and coordinate movement effectively. The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) defines proprioception as “the cumulative sensory input to the central nervous system from all mechanoreceptors that sense body position and limb movement.”

So why is it critical for us to understand the concept of proprioception? And why do the body’s proprioceptive mechanisms need to be trained? Here are 6 key points that illustrate the significance of proprioception and explain the concept in more detail.

1.) To quickly have a more comprehensive understanding of what proprioception is, do this little exercise as you read this blog post. Sit or stand nice and tall with good posture. Keep your eyes focused on these words and extend your arms straight up in the air over head. Now, without looking up, point your index fingers on both hands towards one another and try to touch your fingertips together directly overhead.

How did you do? Did you touch your fingertips together on the first try? Or did it take two or three attempts before you got it? Now try again, but this time, look up and let your vision guide you. Much easier with your eyes helping out, right?

What you just experienced is your body’s proprioceptive systems at work. On your first few attempts with this little exercise, you did not rely on your vision to guide the movement of your limbs and fingers overhead. Instead, you relied on your body’s proprioceptive mechanisms (collectively referred to as “proprioceptors”) to intuitively tell you where your limbs were positioned in space, the speed at which they were moving towards one another, and the angles at which they were positioned.

2.) Proprioceptors are sensory receptors located throughout your body – in your skin, muscles, tendons, and even in your joints. There are many subdomains of proprioceptors such as mechanoreceptors and chemoreceptors, but for the context of this discussion, just know that there are lots of these little receptors constantly communicating with one another to tell you where your body is positioned in space. These receptors are continuously delivering information to your brain and spinal cord via sensory (“afferent”) neurons to help provide you with an intuitive “body map.” allowing you to “sense” your position at all times, even without major senses like vision or touch.

3.) Try the following exercise. But first, a Public Safety Announcement: If you try this, please do so near a wall or other solid surface so you can have a stable place to reach for in case you lose your balance! Stand up tall and try to balance on one foot. Got it? Now, do the same thing, but this time, keep your eyes closed. How did you do?

Removing your sense of sight eliminated a major sensory or feedback mechanism your body uses to determine its position in space. Along with what we see, what we feel (our sense of touch) and what we gather through our proprioceptive mechanisms collectively gives our body the feedback it needs to produce motor command and movement.

4.) Human movement is produced by two major pathways, in this order: 
   1. Information comes in based on what we feel, see, and sense, and
   2. Movement is produced as a result of the information coming in (our body reacts or responds to the stimuli).
Lots of this happens subconsciously, and as long as we are awake, these pathways are turned on and working. Of course there are exceptions, but this is generally the case.

5.) So why the heck is it important that we train our proprioceptive systems? First, do you remember the old adage, “if you don’t use it, you lose it?”

Well, this is the case with our body’s proprioceptive systems. Sitting and remaining sedentary for extended periods of time has been shown to actually weaken or dampen our proprioceptors. Second, aging has lots of negative physiological effects on the body, and one of them is the weakening of our proprioceptive abilities. This is a large reason why adults have issues with balance and coordination as they get older. Overall, regardless of whether or not our proprioception is diminished through a sedentary lifestyle or by age, a weakened mind/muscle awareness system drastically impacts health, fitness and vitality. Balance abilities are weakened, coordination suffers, muscles get weaker and the risk for getting injured during daily activities or sport increases.

6.) Finally, HOW do we train for better proprioception (or mind/body awareness)? The good news is, it’s simple. Just moving “turns on” all of the proprioceptive systems, so at the very minimum, being active in any way can help preserve your proprioception. Resistance training and engaging in drills that require more thought and coordination (like agility drills with cones) also will preserve and build proprioception.

Lately, more attention in the fitness and physical therapy industries has been given to fitness tools that force users to react to changing stimuli. BOSU balls and stability balls are common examples. Reacting to the ever-changing stimuli forces proprioceptive mechanisms to react and stabilize the body as the external environment is always changing. Weighted bars, water-filled training tools, and other objects containing moving media (such as ActivMotion Bars) are also beneficial. These objects contain moving resistance that shifts dynamically when moved or lifted This shifting mass produces a stimulus that users feel and hear, further heightening body awareness as they attempt to stabilize the shifting load. These tools are also used to purposely put the body off center. By tipping them to one side, all the weight shifts with gravity. This simulates the loss of balance in a safe and functional way, forcing the user to react to regain stability.

I did some crunches today

Just kidding...

What is Truth, Anyway? How to think about claims, even the Resurrection

According to the Oxford English Dictionary’ s first definition, a “skeptic” is “one who holds that there are no adequate grounds for certainty as to the truth of any proposition whatever.” This is too nihilistic. There are many propositions for which we have adequate grounds for certainty as to their truth:

There are 84 pages in this issue of Scientific American. True by observation.

Dinosaurs went extinct around 65 million years ago. True by verification and replication of radiometric dating techniques for volcanic eruptions above and below dinosaur fossils.

The universe began with a big bang. True by a convergence of evidence from a wide range of phenomena, such as the cosmic microwave background, the abundance of light elements (such as hydrogen and helium), the distribution of galaxies, the large-scale structure of the cosmos, the redshift of most galaxies and the expansion of space.

These propositions are “true” in the sense that the evidence is so substantial that it would be unreasonable to withhold one’s provisional assent. It is not impossible that the dinosaurs died a few thousand years ago (with the universe itself having been created 10,000 years ago), as Young Earth creationists believe, but it is so unlikely we need not waste our time considering it.

Continue reading.

Dying To Go To Heaven

What the Heaven’s Gate Suicides Teach Us About Islamic Martyrdom

BY MICHAEL SHEERER

It was 20 years ago this week, March 20-26, 1997, that 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate cult “graduated” from this life to ascend to the UFO mothership that they believed would take them to an extraterrestrial paradise. I’ll never forget it. I was on book tour for Why People Believe Weird Things, and neither I nor any of my peers who study belief systems had ever heard of the cult. It was hard to fathom. Now, as I look back 20 years later, I believe the mass suicide has a deeper lesson that goes far beyond the confines of New Age fringe cults, and has relevance to understanding the motivations of today’s suicide terrorists. 

But first, let’s revisit the story. Heaven’s Gate was founded in 1975 by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles after they met in a psychiatric hospital. They fell in love and believed their pairing had been foretold by extraterrestrials. In the 1980s and 1990s, they recruited several hundred followers, many of whom sold their possessions and lived in isolation, disconnected from their family and friends. They practiced living in dark rooms to simulate space travel and considered sex sinful, with six male members voluntarily undergoing castration. 

In early 1997, the appearance of Comet Hale-Bopp foretold to them that the coming of the UFO mothership, said to be hiding behind the comet, that would take them to what they called The Evolutionary Level Above Human (TELAH), where they would live forever in unadulterated ecstasy. This story was reinforced by Art Bell, on his popular late-night radio show Coast to Coast AM, a purveyor of conspiratorial “alternative facts” (before they were known as such). Compared to eternal bliss in this extraterrestrial heaven, life on Earth was but a temporary stage in evolution. The transition was made in three waves that week, as members drank a deadly cocktail of phenobarbital, applesauce, and vodka; also pulling plastic bags over their heads for self-asphyxiation. Authorities found them all dead in a San Diego home on March 26. The event became a media circus. […]

Continue reading.

Apocalypse A.I.: Artificial Intelligence as Existential Threat

In 2014 SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted: “Worth reading Superintelligence by Bostrom. We need to be super careful with AI. Potentially more dangerous than nukes.” That same year University of Cambridge cosmologist Stephen Hawking told the BBC: “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.” Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates also cautioned: “I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence.” 

How the AI apocalypse might unfold was outlined by computer scientist Eliezer Yudkowsky in a paper in the 2008 book Global Catastrophic Risks: “How likely is it that AI will cross the entire vast gap from amoeba to village idiot, and then stop at the level of human genius?” His answer: “It would be physically possible to build a brain that computed a million times as fast as a human brain…. If a human mind were thus accelerated, a subjective year of thinking would be accomplished for every 31 physical seconds in the outside world, and a millennium would fly by in eight-and-a-half hours.” Yudkowsky thinks that if we don’t get on top of this now it will be too late: “The AI runs on a different timescale than you do; by the time your neurons finish thinking the words ‘I should do something’ you have already lost.” […]

Read the full column here.

Anti-Aging Claims

The Fountain of Youth is Still Only a Legend 

BY HARRIET HALL, M.D.

The Spanish explorer Ponce de León wasn’t really looking for the Fountain of Youth when he trekked through Florida. That’s only a legend that wasn’t attached to his name until after his death. The idea of anti-aging remedies dates back to at least 3500 BCE, and the hope is alive and well today. Who wouldn’t like to turn back the clock and regain their lost youth? Who wouldn’t want to ward off death?

Longevity clinics have proliferated in recent years. They offer everything from “age optimization services” to “aesthetic facial rejuvenation,” from “youth maintenance” to “hormone optimization,” from supplements to stem cells. The claims they make are not grounded in science; they are misleading and sometimes even illegal. Jerry Mixon, M.D., of the Longevity Medical Clinic in Washington State, was disciplined for improperly diagnosing and treating four patients for growth hormone deficiency after advertising “comprehensive hormone supplementation as an anti-aging remedy.” Many diverse treatments are being promoted as “anti-aging” remedies. What does the scientific evidence say about them? 

No currently marketed intervention—none—has yet been proved to slow, stop or reverse human aging, and some can be downright dangerous. 

Antioxidants. Eating foods high in antioxidants may help reduce the risk of cancer and other disorders; but there is no good evidence that taking anti-oxidant supplements is helpful, and in some cases it causes harm. There is no evidence that people taking those supplements will live longer or age more slowly. 

Hormone treatments include estrogen, testosterone, DHEA, human growth hormone, and diet supplements that claim to increase the body’s production of these hormones. These hormones have legitimate uses for treating diagnosed medical conditions, but they all carry risks and side effects and they do not slow the rate of aging. Estrogens were widely promoted to “keep women young” until studies showed they did more harm than good. Testosterone is being hyped as a cure-all for aging men, but it is useful only for men with diagnosed hormone deficiency. […]

Read the full article here.

If You Want to Lose Fat, This Meal Should Be Your Biggest

3/29/17 from the Lifestyle section of MSN News

How many calories you eat in a day has a direct impact on whether you'll lose, gain, or maintain your weight. If you're looking to lose, creating a calorie deficit is a must, but when you eat your calories also plays a role. Should you have an even supply of calories throughout the day, or should you try to eat most of your calories by a certain time?

According to certified dietitian Leslie Langevin, MS, RD, CD, of Whole Health Nutrition, "making lunch your biggest meal" could be the change you need in order to see results. A recent study of 80 women, ages 18 to 45, found that having lunch as the biggest meal of the day increased weight loss but also helped with blood sugar levels and insulin resistance. The study also showed that over 12 weeks, those having lunch as the biggest meal lost 12.8 pounds and those with dinner as the biggest meal lost 9.6 pounds.

Pretty interesting, yes? Just changing when to eat the most calories could be the edge you need to see results that you aren't seeing from a healthy diet alone. You have more time to burn off those calories, which means less stored calories overnight.

Leslie suggests trying to "eat 40 percent of your daily calories at lunch. So, for a 1,500-calorie diet, which would be common for weight loss, it would be a 600-calorie lunch. That leaves a 450-calorie breakfast and a 450-calorie dinner. Or if you prefer snacking, a 400-calorie breakfast, a 100-calorie snack, and a 400-calorie dinner.

It seems easy enough to make this change, and not only could it help with weight loss, but eating less at night could also help prevent bloating or heartburn, and help you sleep better. It's worth a try! Remember that just because you're making lunch your highest-calorie meal, it's not a green light to go for unhealthy calories! Keep the mantra in mind, "think of food as fuel," and make sure your meal contains protein, fiber, and healthy fats.

Hydration for Health and Performance

By: Stacey Penney, MS, NASM-CPT

Just how much water should you drink on a daily basis? Does the food you eat count toward this amount? Do you need as much water when exercising in the cold as you would in the heat? Will drinking water speed weight loss? Does dehydration affect athletic performance? If you’ve ever had questions like these about hydration, read on to find out why it is so important to keep properly hydrated.

We’ve all heard the advice to drink 8 glasses of water a day. But how much we actually need to drink is very individualized and depends on many factors, including gender, age, health issues, environment, and of course, activity levels. (1,2).

Generally, the recommended fluid intake for men is 125-130 oz/day, approx. 16 cups, and for women 91-95 oz/day, approx. 12 cups (1,2). Fluids from all food and beverage sources count towards these amounts. Typically about 20% will come from foods (especially fruits and vegetables) and the other 80% from beverages (including caffeinated beverages) (1,2). 

Consider these foods and how their high percentages of water weight contributes to our daily water intake:

Why is it so important to get enough fluids?
The human body is approximately 60-70% water (1), and we can only survive a few days without water. The fluid levels in our body are constantly fluctuating as we lose or gain water. Water is key to our biological functions, including maintaining our core temperature, transporting nutrients to our cells, removing waste products and keeping our pH levels balanced (1-3).
Water is lost through: sweating, urination/excretion, and water loss we’re unaware of via continuous evaporation from the skin and lungs (e.g., perspiration and respiration). Water is gained through: food, beverages, metabolic processes (oxidation of protein, carbohydrates, and fat).

Monitoring Fluids the Easy Way: A simple way to monitor fluid status is to evaluate the color of urine throughout the day. If it is a pale yellow it likely indicates a well-hydrated state. If it is dark in color it probably indicates more fluids are needed. Another method is to weigh-in before and after a workout, replacing the weight difference with fluids. Thirst, obviously, is another indicator that the body needs fluids.

Peak Performance Sidelined by Dehydration: A dehydrated athlete won’t perform at peak levels. Dehydration tolerance is just as individualized as hydration needs (1). Performance wise, dehydration can decrease strength by 2%, power by 3%, and high-intensity endurance by about 10% (1). Some of the reasons dehydration affects performance, especially for endurance activities combined with heat, include reduced plasma blood volume (leading to reduced stroke volume, increased heart rate), a decrease in blood flow to the skin (reducing the sweating response and heat dissipation), and an increase in core temperature (4,5).
Dehydration also has cognitive consequences, negatively affecting response time, coordination, tracking, short-term memory, attention, and mental focus (1). Feelings of fatigue take over faster and more recent research has even shown that dehydration increased brain activity related to painful stimuli (6).

So how much should an athlete consume to keep hydrated? The following chart lists recommendations from the American Dietetic Association, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine’s Fluid Replacement Guidelines (1):

If exercising less than an hour, water will generally meet hydration needs. For longer duration exercise, especially in the heat, a sports beverage will help replace the fluids and electrolytes lost.

Exercising in the Heat or Cold: As most of us have experienced, exercising in the heat increases sweat production. Evaporation of sweat is the body’s key mechanism for staying cool in hot environments. Maintaining ideal hydration levels typically requires an increase in fluid consumption, and potentially the addition of sodium and potassium to replace electrolytes lost in the sweat (1-3). 

But what about the cold? We tend to not think about dehydration as a factor in colder environments. Though our bodies are trying to conserve heat, sweating still occurs, especially with insulated layers of clothing. Colder environments have been shown to blunt the thirst sensation (7). Being in the cold can also increase urine output (diuresis) as fluids are pulled from the extremities toward the core (vasoconstriction) to maintain warmth, in addition to increased respiratory loss of fluids to dry air and/or altitude (8).

Water for Weight Loss: Can water help as an intervention to weight loss? It can definitely help to reduce overall calorie consumption if it replaces high calorie beverages. It can also help by adding feelings of fullness, aiding in digestion, slightlyincreasing metabolism, or avenge feelings of thirst that can often be mistaken for hunger (9). More recently, a study aimed to discover if a pre-meal glass of water would be a successful intervention as part of a weight loss diet. The researchers found that the participants on a calorie restricted diet who drank +500 ml water before each meal lost more weight than those on the calorie restricted diet alone (10).

Too Much of a Good Thing: Hyponatremia: Hyponatremia, or water intoxication, is a dangerous condition that occurs when there is an excess of fluids consumed (exceeding the kidneys ability to quickly excrete) and an excessive loss or dilution of sodium (1-3). Endurance athletes (e.g., long distance runners, triathletes, cyclists) can be at risk for hyponatremia, especially if they are not replacing sodium lost in sweat and over hydrating during an event (1,2). Women and children are also more susceptible to hyponatremia due to their lower sweat rates and lower total body water (1,2). Unfortunately, hyponatremia has had fatal results not only during endurance events, but hazing incidences and other types of non-exercise contests as well (3).

References:
     1). Clark MA, Lucett SC. (2010). NASM’s Essentials of Sports Performance Training. Baltimore, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
     2). National Research Council. (2005). Dietary Reference Intakes for Water, Potassium, Sodium, Chloride, and Sulfate.Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
     3). Insel PM, Ross D, McMahon K, et al. (2011). Nutrition (4th edition). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.
     4). Jeukendrup A, Gleeson M. (2010). Sport Nutrition: An Introduction to Energy Production and Performance (2^nd Edition). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
     5). Gonzalez-Alonso J, Mora-Rodriguez R, Below PR, Coyle EF. (1997). Dehydration markedly impairs cardiovascular function in hyperthermic endurance athletes during exercise. Journal of Applied Physiology, 82(4), 1229-1236.
      6). Ogino Y, Kakeda T, Nakamura K, Saito S. (2013). Dehydration enhances pain-evoked activation in the human brain compared with rehydration. Anesthesia and   Analgesia. Advanced online publication. doi:10.1213/ANE.0b013e3182a9b028.
     7). Kenefick RW, Hazzard MP, Mahood NV, Castellani JW. (2004). Thirst sensations and AVP responses at rest and during exercise-cold exposure. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 36, 1528-1534.