In this video, GE provides a wide variety of these body imaging devices to transform objects like a baseball, fruit and a violin to create an analog representation of how tomography captures these image slices:

Spaniol, F., Temple, D., Ocker, L., Bonnette, R., Melrose, D, Monteiro, I.
Sport Science Research Laboratory Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between visual skills and volleyball performance of NCAA Division I volleyball players. Participants consisted of thirteen female NCAA Division I volleyball players (height 179.36 ± 7.73cm, age 18-25 years) who were evaluated for visual skills and performance during the 2008-2009 season. Visual skills were assessed using Vizual Edge Performance Trainer® (VEPT), a commercial software program designed to evaluate and train visual skills. Subjects were assessed for eye alignment, depth perception, convergence, divergence, visual recognition, and visual tracking. A composite score (final VEPT score) was also calculated for each subject. Volleyball performance was determined by end of season statistics, which included kills, kills per set, attack errors, hitting percentage, assists, assists per set, serve aces, serve aces per set, serve errors, reception errors, digs, digs per set, blocks solo, blocks assisted, total blocks, blocks per set, blocking errors, and ball-handling errors. Data analysis was performed by utilizing a correlation matrix to calculate correlation coefficients between the vision and performance variables. Statistical analysis indicated significant (p < 0.05) relationships between convergence percentage and attack percentage (r = 0.55), divergence station score and assists per set (r = 0.53), visual recognition percent correct and hitting percentage (r = 0.71), eye alignment and blocks per set (r = -0.56), visualrecognition response time and attack percentage (r = -0.74), and visual recognition percent correct and reception errors (r = – 0.57). The results of this study indicate that superior visual skills were highly related to superior volleyball performance statistics in several areas. Since visual skills appear to play a crucial role in volleyball performance, coaches may consider using programs such as VEPT to assess volleyball players.

Written by Adam Rankin

1. Give Thanks – A simple yet powerful strategy for instantly changing mindset, being thankful for all the great things you have in life will get you on the path to healthier mindset.  A simple method to use on a daily basis is to put pictures of everything in life you are thankful for, and post them on a corkboard, or any other spot that will be seen multiple times during a day. The pictures will immediately change your state of mind for the better.

2. Be an optimist – In a recent report by The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Michael Scheier, a psychologist at Carnegie-Melon University wrote that “optimists tend to respond to disappointments like being turned for a job by formulating a plan of action and asking others for help and advice”. He went on to state that, “pessimists more often react by trying to forget the whole thing or assuming nothing can be done”. Being positive even in the light of failure is no doubt a tough mental status to take on, but is a sure way to see things turn in your favor.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/03/science/research-affirms-power-of-positive-thinking.html

3. See the good in others and yourself – More often than not, negative interactions with others, miscommunication and misunderstanding produces a negative hormonal environment in the body we call stress. This can also happen internally when we place high amounts of pressure on ourselves whether it is with family or work related issues. Take a timeout when you feel like stress is taking over, and allow yourself to see the good in other people and yourself. Write out the positive qualities in your family members, co-workers and yourself and place them in a spot that can be read numerous times throughout the day.

Say goodbye to the dreaded long hours spent on cardio pieces. Get ready to lean up, and the best part is that it only takes 15 minutes after your resistance workout! The new wave of cardiovascular exercise is interval training, and it is the most economic way to get results fast. Helgerud et al. found that, “High-aerobic intensity endurance interval training is significantly more effective than performing the same total work at either lactate threshold or at 70% HRmax, in improving VO2max.” In the exercise world, VO2max is simply maximum oxygen uptake and HRmax is max heart rate. The key component to any form of interval training is that it should be done after a resistance training workout in a state where glucose stores are nearly depleted and fat is the prime source for energy. When performing intervals, set your elliptical, recumbent bike, or treadmill to a proper seat height/warm-up speed and perform 30 seconds to a minute. Initially, start your interval program at a 3:1 rest to work ratio. A sample beginner’s program would look like this; 30 seconds of 85%-95% of max heart rate and 90 seconds of rest. As experience with the program advances, the work time goes up along with the rest periods. Perform anywhere from 4-6 work/rest sets which should take anywhere from 10-20 minutes at most, efficiency at its best!

HELGERUD, JAN 1,2; HOYDAL, KJETILL 1; WANG, EIVIND 1; KARLSEN, TRINE 1; BERG, PALR 1; BJERKAAS, MARIUS 1; SIMONSEN, THOMAS 1; HELGESEN, CECILIES 1; HJORTH, NINAL 1; BACH, RAGNHILD 1; HOFF, JAN 1,3 “Aerobic High-Intensity Intervals Improve V[spacing dot above]O2max More Than Moderate Training.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 39(4):665-671, April 2007. April 8, 2008..

The Gaurdian

A short snooze during the day will boost your mood and your intelligence – but there’s more to it than simply closing your eyes.

For years, napping has been derided as a sign of laziness. We are “caught” napping or “found asleep at the switch”. But lately it has garnered new respect, thanks to scientific evidence that midday dozing benefits both mental acuity and overall health. A slew of recent studies have shown that naps boost alertness, creativity, mood, and productivity in the later hours of the day.

A nap of 60 minutes improves alertness for up to 10 hours. Research on pilots shows that a 26-minute “Nasa” nap in flight (while the plane is manned by a copilot) enhanced performance by 34% and overall alertness by 54%. One Harvard study published last year showed that a 45-minute nap improves learning and memory. Napping reduces stress and lowers the risk of heart attack and stroke, diabetes, and excessive weight gain.

Getting even the briefest nap is better than nothing. A 2008 study in Düsseldorf showed that the onset of sleep may trigger active memory processes that remain effective even if sleep is limited to only a few minutes. And last year, a British study suggested that just knowing a nap was coming was enough to lower blood pressure.

Naps make you brainier, healthier, safer. But to understand how you can nap best, you need to understand your body.

Jennifer Ackerman is the author of Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream: A Day in the Life of Your Body

How long should you rest for?

In designing the optimal nap you need to grasp its potential components. During sleep, your brain’s electrical activity goes through a five-phase cycle.

A short afternoon catnap of 20 minutes yields mostly Stage 2 sleep, which enhances alertness and concentration, elevates mood, and sharpens motor skills. To boost alertness on waking, you can drink a cup of coffee before you nap. Caffeine requires 20 or 30 minutes to take effect, so it will kick in just as you’re waking. Naps of up to 45 minutes may also include rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which enhances creative thinking and boosts sensory processing.

Limit your nap to 45 minutes or less, if you need to spring into action after dozing. Otherwise, you may drift into slow-wave sleep. Waking from this stage results in sleep inertia, that grogginess and disorientation that can last for half an hour or more.

But you might want to take a long nap, at least 90 minutes. Many of us get about an hour to an hour-and-a-half less sleep a night than we need. One recent study shows that the sleep-deprived brain toggles between normal activity and complete lapses, or failures, a dangerous state of slowed responses and foggy inattention. Sound familiar?

Naps of 90 to 120 minutes usually comprise all stages, including REM and deep slow-wave sleep, which helps to clear your mind, improve memory recall, and recoup lost sleep. Longer naps in the morning yield more REM sleep, while those in the afternoon offer more slow-wave sleep. A nap that is long enough to include a full sleep cycle, at least 90 minutes, will limit sleep inertia by allowing you to wake from REM sleep.

The Science of Sleep

Why do we need to nap?

Most mammals sleep for short periods throughout the day. Humans have consolidated sleep into one long period, but our bodies are programmed for two periods of intense sleepiness: in the early morning, from about 2am to 4am, and in the afternoon, between 1pm and 3pm. This midday wave of drowsiness is not due to heat or a heavy lunch (it occurs even if we skip eating) but from an afternoon quiescent phase in our physiology, which diminishes our reaction time, memory, coordination, mood, and alertness.

Are You a Lark or An Owl?

To determine the best time to nap, it helps to know your “chronotype”. What time would you get up and go to sleep if you were entirely free to plan your day? If you’re a lark, apt to wake as early as 6am and go to sleep around 9pm or 10pm, you’re going to feel your nap need around 1pm or 1.30 pm.

If you’re an owl, preferring to go to bed after midnight or 1am, and to wake around 8am or 9am, your afternoon “sleep gate” will open later, closer to 2.30pm or 3pm.

A few months ago I wrote about the head injuries in athletes and the concerns for children who play contact sports. The Wall Street Journal (8/31/10) reported on a study published in the journal Pediatrics in which concussions more than doubled between 1997 and 2007 in children playing sports despite participation declining. My concern was not that children are playing contact sports, but rather that the sporting aspect of adolescence and maturity is very important to the youngsters’ development. What I was attempting to identify is that many parents and children do not understand all the potential dangers associated with sports-related head injuries.

Following my post, new research suggests that athletes who have had multiple head injuries may be prone to developing a disabling neurological disease similar to ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The study was published in the September issue of the Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology. The research, which came out of Boston University School of Medicine and the Veterans Administration Hospital in Bedford has pinpointed evidence of a new disease that mimics ALS in two former National Football League players previously thought to have died of ALS. These findings may mean that athletes previously diagnosed with ALS might actually have had the related syndrome. Clearly, more research is needed.

So what does this mean for our children who are out on the field playing the sport of their favorite athletes? Although sports can cause serious injury to the brain if and when head to head or head to body contact is made, children are more susceptible than adults to injury and its consequences. A child’s skull and brain continue to develop throughout adolescence and damage to this vital organ could be irreversible. The brain is a dynamic tissue and damage may not be noticeable until later in life.

Neurologists are still learning not only how the brain works, but how it matures. Chronic trauma to the brain could possibly lead to chronic progressive disabling neurological disorders, such as ALS, later in their lives.

Be careful what you teach and/or encourage your child to do as they engage in sports. Help them understand the value and vulnerability of their brain, and their entire body for that matter. Help them be aware of the subtle sign of brain injury in themselves and their teammates. If a player does not “feel right,” pay attention and seek medical help. Teach these youngsters to treat their brain with respect as they will need their brain functioning at its full capacity for the rest of their lives.

About Helene Pavlov:

Dr. Helene Pavlov is a Board-Certified Radiologist specializing in Orthopaedic Radiology since 1976. She was elected to be a Fellow of the American College of Radiology (FACR) in 1989 and an Allied Specialty member of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons in 1989. She has published over 100 investigative original research articles, 62 book chapters and review articles and has displayed over 36 exhibits at national radiologic and orthopaedic scientific assemblies. Dr. Pavlov is the first author of 3 textbooks: Atlas of Knee Menisci: Arthrographic Pathologic Correlation – 1983; The Running Athlete Roentgenograms and Remedies – 1987; and Orthopaedic Guide to Plain Film Imaging – 1999. She is well known in both the radiologic and orthopaedic communities for having co-authored two monthly columns in the orthopaedic literature entitled “Radiology for the Orthopaedic Surgeon-What is your diagnosis?” from 1982-1996 and also ” Legislative Update” detailing the current changes in the healthcare/provider laws and regulations from 1988-1996.

Dr. Pavlov serves on the Expert Panel Task Force on Appropriateness Criterion for Musculoskeletal Imaging since 1994 and is a past delegate to the New York State Chapter of the American College of Radiology.

She is an invited lecturer and presenter, including instructional course faculty, at local, national, and international scientific specialty meetings and is a recognized authority of sports medicine radiology and imaging of athletic injuries. She is funded for several clinical research projects by corporate grants.

Dr. Pavlov has been recognized as one of “The Best Doctors in New York” as reported in New York Magazine and Castle Connelly in 2000 and 2001. Dr. Pavlov has been listed in the Consumer’s Research Council of America: “Guide to America’s Top Radiologists First Edition 2002-2003″; and also in Castle Connelly’s: “Best Doctors in Metro Area 2000-2005″.

Chaddock L, Erickson KI, Prakash RS, Kim JS, Voss MW, Vanpatter M, Pontifex MB, Raine LB, Konkel A, Hillman CH, Cohen NJ, Kramer AF.

Department of Psychology & Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

• Before exercise ? Hydration should begin at least two hours before exercise with 17 to 20 oz. of water or sports drink, followed by 7 to 10 oz. 10 to 20 minutes before exercise.
• During exercise ? Consume 7 to 10 oz. of water or sports drink every 15 to 20 minutes.
• After exercise ? Approximately 20 to 24 oz. of water or sports drink should be consumed per pound of body weight lost during the course, until two hours after exercise has finished.

– Bob Murray, Ph.D., FACSM, Director, Gatorade Sports Science Institute