SPORTS
Natural Arctic Oil for Athletes
Being a great athlete requires high perceptual cognitive skills in order to read the game and anticipate in time on every situation while maintaining optimal sensor motor skills at the same time. In order to be able to process all this sensory and motion related information an athlete needs to be in “the zone” – also often referred to as “the flow state” – during the game as long as possible.
Being able to concentrate no matter what and to be in the zone during your game as much as possible is a major determining factor for playing your best game. Optimizing your neuro chemistry plays in crucial role in that process.
Perception of Time
In all sports you can make a difference when you can read the game and assess a situation faster than your opponent and hence decide faster what to do. The way we perceive time depends on the speeds of our metabolism in our body and brain. The faster our nerve cells process sensory information and the faster our brain can anticipate and make decision, the faster we can act. With time we commonly relate to physical time, but actually it is more important how we perceive time. In other words, if we can evaluate situations much faster we will have more time to determine what to do.
Interestingly our modern diets and even most supplements are lacking the most important nutritional substances that play a crucial role in this process; essential fatty acids.
4 Corner Stones of Sports
Physical, technical, tactical and mental capabilities are considered to be the four corner stones at any sport. The mental aspects are commonly paid less attention to whereas it is fundamental for the three other aspects. Especially considering that the pace of the game has increased significantly over the past decades mental skills or rather perceptual cognitive skills have become more important than ever. Optimizing these skills will not only improve mental skills, but also physical, technical and tactical performance will have a better result.
Concussion and Brain Injury
Like in any top sports, injuries are part of the game so there is a lot of attention of being optimally fit and strong to minimize that risk, but we might be forgetting how vulnerable our brain has become. As speed and intensity have increased over the past decades our brain is at great risk while at the same time the lack of omega-3 DHA in our diets is causing our brain to perform less well and be less resilient.
Many studies and research underpin the importance of omega-3 DHA fatty acids, mainly in our brain eyes and central nervous system. Comprising 97% of all omega-3 fatty acid in the brain and 93% in the eyes it is a crucial nutrient to protect the brain from injuries, help it to recover once neuronal damage has been sustained and ensure visual acuity to be able to better avoid collissions in the first place.
Faster reaction time
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Omega-3 fatty acids, DHA in particular, are integral components of nerve fibers, especially at the synapse where they are found in high concentrations. Increases in the intake of omega-3 fatty acids have been demonstrated to dramatically improve reaction times, especially in complex and high dynamic environments.
Increase Oxygen Transfer
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Red blood cells can only transfer oxygen to the muscle tissue as they squeeze through the capillary beds that surround the muscle tissue. The diameter of the capillary is actually less than the diameter of the red blood cell, thus the greater the deformability of the red blood cell, the more rapidly it can transfer oxygen to the muscle cell. Omega-3 fatty acids, and DHA in particular, will enhance flexibilty of cells. With higher intakes of oxygen, the muscle can make more ATP to fuel contractions.
Increasing the deformability of the red blood cell with increased omega-3 intake is a healthy approach for improving oxygen transfer at every level of athletic performance.
One of the major factors in determining VO2 max (the maximum oxygen transfer rate) is the size of the capillary bed. Omega-3 fatty acids can also increase the vasodilation of the capillary bed to increase blood flow and thus increase oxygen transfer.
Reduce Inflammation
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To train intensely means creating muscle damage. This damage causes inflammation. The most extreme cause is delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), which can take several days (if not longer) for the inflammation to be resolved. Increasing the intake of omega-3 fatty acids will not only decrease the impact of DOMS, but also increase the resolution of any existing damage so that recovery times are significantly decreased. High-dose omega-3 fatty acids can reduce this type of exercise-induced muscle damage.
Increase Anti-oxidant Status
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Omega-3 fatty acids can also act as gene transcription factors to increase the levels of anti-oxidative enzymes in the blood and the muscles. These anti-oxidant enzymes are exceptionally powerful in quenching excess free- radical formation caused during intense exercise.
Improve ATP Production
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You can make far greater amounts of ATP from a molecule of fatty acid than from a molecule of glucose. The only problem is having to transport the fatty acid across the muscle membrane so it can be oxidized by the mitochondria. This process is sped by the presence of fatty-acid transport proteins that are specifically designed to do exactly that. The higher intake of omega-3 fatty acids activates those genes that cause the expression of higher levels of these fatty-acid transport proteins to lead to greater ATP production.
Improved metabolic fuel flexibility
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The key to athletic performance is metabolic flexibility. This means being able to use both fatty acids and glucose with equal efficiency to generate ATP. The omega-3 fatty acids activate the gene transcription factor that ensures that the athlete will have maximum metabolic flexibility to allow the greatest generation of ATP with the least amount of calories. This is especially important in endurance racing when the anaerobic threshold is rarely exceeded for any extended period of time (like in a sprint). Below the anaerobic threshold, the muscles can switch to fat for ATP generation thus preserving glucose for those times the athlete exceeds the anaerobic threshold.
Reduce recovery time
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Any type of intense athletic training will cause muscle protein damage. Your recovery time is based on the time to repair the damage and synthesize new muscle protein. It has been shown that omega-3 fatty acids can increase this rate of muscle protein synthesis and thus reduce recovery times.
Sports Approved
Every batch of AHS Natural Arctic Oil is tested by LGC Lab UK in accordance with WADA guidelines. It is free of any forbidden substances and therefore safe to be used by professional athletes.
