Epigenetic Proprioception
Proprioception is the body’s ability to perceive its sense of position in space.
It is the perception of the positions of the various parts of the body. The brain uses this information to facilitate movement, maintain balance, coordination, and the rest of it.
It is the neural process by which the body takes in sensory input from the surrounding environment and integrates that information to produce a motor response.
Proprioception collects information from our muscles, joints, posture, and our position in space. This data is sent to our central nervous system which dictates movements.
“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”
― Lao Tzu
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Proprioception is necessary for fluid and precise movements – essential to ultra-endurance athletes and the mainstream in the spirit of optimal health, limitless performance, and enhanced longevity.
It is an unconscious, instinctive awareness of muscle contraction, joint elasticity, and the ABCs of proprioception: agility, balance, and coordination. Manifesting your mind-muscle connection will enhance your strength, power, reaction, balance, muscle economy, and neurotransmitter function to list a few.
Neurotransmitters detect impulses and relay them to the brain in milliseconds, which instructs our limbs to react based on position and force. Endurance athletes who diligently train their feet and ankles are rewarded with improved gait efficiency, joint and connective tissue strength, and elasticity.
It is the sense of body positions perceived at the conscious and unconscious levels. It refers to two kinds of sensations: static limb position and kinesthesia. The static position reflects the recognition of the orientation of body parts and kinesthesia is the recognition of rates of movement.
Proprioception is based on a multicomponent sensory system. Peripheral receptors can detect specific signals and major sensory afferent pathways that transport the information from the spinal cord to the cortex.
Kinesthetic training will generate strength, suppleness, and awareness. Postural awareness and nasal breathing, for example, will benefit the endurance athlete via nitric oxide production and efficient mitochondrial biogenesis – two key performance components. Streamlined breath and posture will ease the workload.
Proprioception impacts endurance athletes beyond rigorous training regimens, natural talent, and genetic propensity.
Proprioception mastery will enhance durability, mitigate injuries, improve awareness, and heighten responsiveness on the training and racing landscape.
The body interacts with its environment through the simultaneous inputs of our five senses. The precision and quality of collaboration among these five senses is the key to how your body functions amid an array of stressors during the daily grist. The five senses include:
→ Auditory [Hearing];
→ Gustation [Taste];
→ Ocular [Vision];
→ Olfaction [Smell]; and
→ Vestibular [Balance]
Proprioception relies on the relationship among the central nervous system [CNS], soft tissue, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and more. Compromised proprioception is a reduction in the sense that tells the body where you are in space. It includes the awareness of posture, weight, movement, and limb position with our environment and other parts of our body.
Integral to the CNS is the activity of the autonomic nervous system [ANS] and its two branches: the sympathetic nervous system [SNS] and the parasympathetic nervous system [PNS].
The state of the ANS determines whether the body is in survival mode or regeneration mode. There are two branches of the ANS: the sympathetic nervous system [SNS – “fight/flight”] and the parasympathetic nervous system [PNS – “rest/digest”].
The SNS compromises normal bodily functions and negatively impacts our health and performance proportionately when prolonged. Research has indicated most people reside in the SNS zone. Find some compromised areas below:
→ Suppressed digestion – especially gluten and other common allergens;
→ Decreased tissue hydration;
→ Compromised immune system;
→ Poor circulation;
→ Diminished blood flow | stroke volume;
→ Impaired cognition;
→ Body structure compressed – leading to joint inflammation and chronic pain
PNS allows the body to function optimally in the spirit of repair and regeneration. A healthy nervous system has an optimal balance of activation of the parasympathetic nervous system and activation of the sympathetic nervous system.
Prolonged stress negatively impacts health and performance. The benefits of stress reduction are equally broad. The following represent some of the areas where the function is greatly improved by a healthy nervous system:
→ Premature aging;
→ Blood circulation;
→ Tissue hydration;
→ Brain function;
→ Cardiovascular health;
→ Digestion | food allergens:
→ Cognition;
→ Lymphatic system;
→ Pain relief;
→ Posture;
→ Respiration;
→ Immune system;
→ Stress reduction
Simple breathwork will perform wonders to balance your ANS. It is based on a concept termed Cardiac Coherence. The key is to activate your PNS to slow your heart rate and enhance heart rate variability [HRV]. It is a synergistic approach to homeostasis via Pranayama.
Balancing your ANS will impact the proficiency of the signals sent by the CNS to enhance neurological and biomechanical synchronicity, your trail running, triathlon performance, snowshoe racing, health, and longevity in life and sport.
Zenyatta Mondatta
Proprioception is a neuromuscular sense under the forgotten umbrella of somatosensation – our “sixth sense.” Somatosensation includes the following modalities:
→ Mechanoreception [Vibration];
→ Nociception [Pain];
→ Thermoception [Temperature];
→ Equilibroception [Balance]; and
→ Proprioception [Sense of position and movement]
The feedback from these sensory components emanates from the PNS which is forwarded to the CNS at the reflexive [spinal] and neurological [cerebral cortex].
Sensory organs within the tissue are called proprioceptors. Sensory nerve endings wrap around the proprioceptors to send information to the nervous system. The proprioceptors can sense tissue elongation, tension, and pressure.
Responses at the spinal level provide dynamic muscular stabilization via spinal reflexes. This is due to afferent fibers from the “muscle spindles” synapse with spinal neurons [via efferent fibers] facilitating or inhibiting the neuron stretch reflex [contraction of a muscle in response to its passive elongation].
The proprioceptors in muscles are termed muscle spindles. Muscle spindles are long proteins encapsulated in sheaths parallel to muscle fibers and function in the following manner:
→ When a muscle is extended, muscle fibers and muscle spindles stretch;
→ When a muscle is contracted, muscle fibers and muscle spindles shorten;
→ Nerve fibers in the muscle transmit the degree and rate at which muscle spindles elongate;
→ The information is delivered to the nervous system, and impulses instruct the muscles to contract or elongate;
→ The desired response is performed.
Proprioceptors are affected by several genetic, epigenetic, and acquired diseases. Gene expression is a tightly regulated process that allows a cell to respond to its changing environment.
Enter epigenetics…
Epigenetics represents all inputs from life. Epigenetics represents the study of changes in organisms caused by modifications to gene expression absent any alteration to the genetic code [DNA blueprint/sequence]. “Epi” is the Greek lexicon for “above.” Epigenetic markers are positioned above your DNA sequence and impact gene expression/suppression based on lifestyle factors [methylation].
Synaptic plasticity is the underlying neurophysiological correlate of learning and constitutes the brain’s ability to reorganize and adapt in response to changing environmental demands.
Some of the most influential studies behind the recent surge of interest in epigenetics originated from or directly cut across neuroscience research. Epigenetics research offers a key missing link in the dynamic interplay between experience and the genome in sculpting neuronal circuits – especially in the critical periods of plasticity.
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, developmental biology, cytology, computer science, and mathematical modeling to understand the fundamental and emergent properties of neurons and neural circuits.
Cognitive neuroscience is the scientific field that is concerned with the study of the biological processes and aspects that underlie cognition, with a specific focus on the neural connections in the brain that are involved in mental processes – which parlay into proprioception realms.
Neuroepigenetics is the study of how epigenetic changes to genes affect the nervous system. These changes may affect underlying conditions such as addiction, cognition, neurological development, neurotransmitters, and the like.
Proprioception represents a continuous loop of feedback between sensory receptors throughout your body and your nervous system. Awareness is the bottom line. Sensory receptors are located on your skin, joints, and muscles.
When we engage in exertion, our brain senses the effort, force, and extent of our actions; adapts, positions, and responds accordingly. It is based on neural inputs from joints, muscles, ligaments, tendons, and skin to regulate motor control.
The foundation of proprioception from a biomechanical standpoint represents the following modalities:
* Joint Position Sense [JPS]
The position of joints and limbs plays a major role in proprioception. Active and passive joint angles plus replication veracity is the key to movement measurements
* Kinesthetic
Kinesthetic refers to one’s awareness of the position and movement of body parts via muscle and joint proprioceptors. The harmonious flow of the body by implementing the ABCs of proprioception.
* Sense of Force [SoF]
Also known as the sense of effort, heaviness, tension, and torque. It is the ability to mimic, produce, and exert a desired level of force multiple times absent failure.
* Sense of Velocity [SoV]
Our innate skill at sensing vibration at varying levels and in various scenarios. This ability is believed to migrate from afferent nerve fibers.
Enhancing the ABCs [agility, balance, and coordination] of proprioception includes the following. This is not an exhaustive list. The key is to sync your brain and body to improve movement.
→Yoga;
→ Tai Chi;
→ Meditation;
→ Agility drills;
→ Plyometrics;
→ Bosu balls;
→ Wobble boards;
→ Single-leg exercises with eyes open;
→ Single-leg exercises with eyes shut;
→ Single-leg exercises catching balls;
→ Single-leg squats;
→ Single-leg box jumps;
→ Single-leg deadlifts using body weight;
→ Single-leg deadlifts with weight – dumbbells, kettlebells…
The desired outcomes include the following:
→ Improve balance;
→ Mitigate injuries;
→ Strengthen muscles and joints
→ Improve foot placement and form [gait cycle];
→ Improve speed, power, and economy of movement…
The risk of proprioception loss increases as we age due to a combination of natural age-related changes to the nerves, joints, and muscles.
The keys to your mansion of unparalleled health, performance, and longevity are heightened when lifestyle matches chronotype. Performance optimization cannot occur without first enhancing health. Homeostasis is the dynamic interaction between genetics and lifestyle [nature and nurture]. Synergy is the lynchpin.
Your DNA blueprint is absolute and cannot be altered. Think of epigenetic markers as apostrophes sprinkled above the letters and words of a sentence [your DNA sequence]. Your DNA provides instructions for proteins to be produced inside the cells. Epigenetic markers impact [like a dimmer switch] how genes are read by cells.
Epigenetics identifies propensities that can be modified whether it pertains to sleep, stress, nutrition, supplementation, athletic performance, environmental health, hormones, biological age, neurotransmitters, the endocannabinoid and glutathione systems, nitric oxide production, mitochondrial biogenesis, neuro epigenetics, heart rate variability, cognition, and a host of other testing categories.
The promise of epigenetics testing is its depiction of cellular integrity. When variants highlight abnormal cellular function it allows the opportunity to reverse chronic, degenerative, autoimmune states, cancer, and biological aging, and improve your health, performance, and longevity via gene expression modification.
Proper gene expression is a big deal. The mayhem begins when a gene is expressed when it should be suppressed or vice versa, and its impact reaches far beyond a sub-par training day on the trails. This invites inflammation, chronic and degenerative diseases, accelerated biological aging, senescence, and a plethora of other undesirable outcomes – no matter one’s levels of health and fitness.
We have the technology to eliminate the guesswork, decode superhuman, reverse biological aging, and propel your limitless potential. Epigenetics represents an unprecedented, bold, medical paradigm leveraging cutting-edge technology to shift genetic expression with mind-blowing results in life and sport.
It is necessary to integrate a complex systems approach to optimize health, performance, and longevity. It is essential to understand the human system is an unpredictable, complex system versus a complicated system.
In a complicated system, several independent pieces can be modified without affecting the other pieces. In a complex system, each piece is dependent on its relationship with the other components. The human system is adaptive and dynamic. App algorithms focus on complicated, predictable, and static biometrics.
The invaluable art of applying complicated data to complex thinking is “augmented intelligence.” The precise interpretation of complicated data is the key to transcending health, performance, and longevity in life and sport.
Epigenetics provides visionary, incisive, evidence-based measures, and strategic actions to genetically optimize and enhance health, performance, and longevity – because life begins and ends at the cellular level.
Incisive proprioception depends on your mind-body connection relative to adaptation to a daily barrage of environmental stressors. Enhancing the longevity of your mind-body connection is being able to modify that which you cannot see.
Perhaps it is time to rewrite your script from the inside out…
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