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Scientist to pacquiao:quit while on top!
Scientists to Pacman: Quit while on top
February 07, 2009 04:36:00
Tessa Salazar
Philippine Daily Inquirer
ANGELITA B. Cruz of the College of Human Kinetics at the University of the Philippines in Diliman has urged Pacquiao to retire at the prime of his career and be mindful of the potential damage further blows to his head could cause. Years of accumulated blows on the head, even mild ones, could lead to dementia, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (neurological disorder caused by multiple blows to the head; primarily affects career boxers) and other impaired mental and cognitive abilities.
Cruz said the best way Pacquiao could help the youth excel in boxing was for him to venture into academics now that he is still mentally and physically fit, and then eventually train amateur boxers to follow not only his discipline and dedication to his sport but also his career path.
She added that if Pacquiao did retire early and maintain physical fitness, the likelihood of neurogenesis in his brain would be high.
Cruz, who has a master of science degree in Human Movement from the UP, cited that many sports science students are varsity athletes and national team members, and that they are able to apply their knowledge in sports science in their training programs.
Filipino molecular biologist and sports scientist Custer Deocaris said the core functions of an athlete’s brain could be used not just for real world situations but in the field of science as well.
“Sadly, we have not been able to use the brain reserves of our athletes and former athletes because we lock them all in a state that (dictates) mental attributes are separate from physical attributes,” Deocaris said.
“It would be a great disservice if a mind of an athlete is not tapped for national development,” he added.
Deocaris and Cruz, who both lamented the reduction of sports and physical education subjects in the Philippine school curriculum, stressed that physical fitness is not separate from mental fitness. There is, indeed, that body and mind connection, and that one cannot optimize the mind if the body is not fit.
Aside from preventing juvenile diabetes and cardiovascular obesity, vigorous physical activities produced higher grades among students in numerous studies, Deocaris said.
According to him, the stereotype of the “dumb athlete” is a result of the insufficient academic environment given to athletes.
Insufficient academic milieu
Conversely, slashing physical education in favor of a more sedentary academic environment “would produce an entire generation of ****** and unhealthy students,” Deocaris warned.
“PE is not considered a serious subject (here). If this trend continues, we’re doing a great disservice to an entire generation by neglecting hard evidence in neuroscience,” he said.
One way of disciplining students with disruptive behavior, he said, would be to make them run in the campus oval, instead of a trip to the principal’s office.
“Exercise helps the executive function of the brain and inhibits the amygdala, which is the ‘animal instinct’ part of the brain.”
Deocaris’ Dec. 8 lecture presented this abstract:
“It was a long-held belief that once the brain stopped developing in adulthood, so did its capacity to produce new neurons. Scientists found that during mating season, canaries and finches produced new neurons in their high vocal centers (HVC), a region of the brain that creates songs. And since then, evidence for adult neurogenesis snowballed. Perhaps one of the most exciting discoveries in the field is that neurogenesis also occurs in the subgranular zone of the hippocampus, the seat of learning and memory. As this finding is expected to open doors to developing biotech drugs that could halt and even reverse the cognitive-decline and pathologies during aging, a major intervention that stimulates the birth of neurons has recently emerged-low-intensity aerobics.”
February 07, 2009 04:36:00
Tessa Salazar
Philippine Daily Inquirer
ANGELITA B. Cruz of the College of Human Kinetics at the University of the Philippines in Diliman has urged Pacquiao to retire at the prime of his career and be mindful of the potential damage further blows to his head could cause. Years of accumulated blows on the head, even mild ones, could lead to dementia, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (neurological disorder caused by multiple blows to the head; primarily affects career boxers) and other impaired mental and cognitive abilities.
Cruz said the best way Pacquiao could help the youth excel in boxing was for him to venture into academics now that he is still mentally and physically fit, and then eventually train amateur boxers to follow not only his discipline and dedication to his sport but also his career path.
She added that if Pacquiao did retire early and maintain physical fitness, the likelihood of neurogenesis in his brain would be high.
Cruz, who has a master of science degree in Human Movement from the UP, cited that many sports science students are varsity athletes and national team members, and that they are able to apply their knowledge in sports science in their training programs.
Filipino molecular biologist and sports scientist Custer Deocaris said the core functions of an athlete’s brain could be used not just for real world situations but in the field of science as well.
“Sadly, we have not been able to use the brain reserves of our athletes and former athletes because we lock them all in a state that (dictates) mental attributes are separate from physical attributes,” Deocaris said.
“It would be a great disservice if a mind of an athlete is not tapped for national development,” he added.
Deocaris and Cruz, who both lamented the reduction of sports and physical education subjects in the Philippine school curriculum, stressed that physical fitness is not separate from mental fitness. There is, indeed, that body and mind connection, and that one cannot optimize the mind if the body is not fit.
Aside from preventing juvenile diabetes and cardiovascular obesity, vigorous physical activities produced higher grades among students in numerous studies, Deocaris said.
According to him, the stereotype of the “dumb athlete” is a result of the insufficient academic environment given to athletes.
Insufficient academic milieu
Conversely, slashing physical education in favor of a more sedentary academic environment “would produce an entire generation of ****** and unhealthy students,” Deocaris warned.
“PE is not considered a serious subject (here). If this trend continues, we’re doing a great disservice to an entire generation by neglecting hard evidence in neuroscience,” he said.
One way of disciplining students with disruptive behavior, he said, would be to make them run in the campus oval, instead of a trip to the principal’s office.
“Exercise helps the executive function of the brain and inhibits the amygdala, which is the ‘animal instinct’ part of the brain.”
Deocaris’ Dec. 8 lecture presented this abstract:
“It was a long-held belief that once the brain stopped developing in adulthood, so did its capacity to produce new neurons. Scientists found that during mating season, canaries and finches produced new neurons in their high vocal centers (HVC), a region of the brain that creates songs. And since then, evidence for adult neurogenesis snowballed. Perhaps one of the most exciting discoveries in the field is that neurogenesis also occurs in the subgranular zone of the hippocampus, the seat of learning and memory. As this finding is expected to open doors to developing biotech drugs that could halt and even reverse the cognitive-decline and pathologies during aging, a major intervention that stimulates the birth of neurons has recently emerged-low-intensity aerobics.”
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