Cognition and sports

Cognition in general is a tricky thing to test. Its not particularly clear what people mean when they say "I want to increase cognition" so it makes sense to categorise it. In the 70s a pharmacologist name Cornelius Giurgea coined the term nootropics in his search for a drug or substance that could generally enhance cognition. He came up with the following framework:

-Enhance learning and memory, especially under conditions of disturbed neural metabolism resulting from a lack of oxygen, electroshock or age-related changes
-Facilitate information flow between the cerebral hemispheres
-Enhance the general resistance of the brain to physical and chemical injuries
-Be devoid of any other psychological or physiological effects

Looking at his definition we see it lacking in sophistication. The facilitation of information flow between hemispheres seems extremely vague and the requirement to be devoid of side effects seems overly ambitious. More importantly it doesn't seem that relevant to sport. Far better to instead use a framework that included some of the established concepts of brain function and to include features that were testable in some quantitative way.

It is way outside the scope of this blog to define intelligence, but for its purposes we will assume it to be the efficient use of the brain to achieve the best results in any particular sport. When you consider what would help you build as a sportsman you are most likely thinking of long term memory retrieval: the ability to draw on expertise gathered from training. There are broadly two types of long term memory:

1. Acting on learned phenomena, called "procedural" or "implicit" memory
2. Understanding what phenomena is, called "declaritive" or "explicit" memory

For example there is something called the "mirror test" in which Alzheimers patients will be asked to learn a hand-eye coordination skill by drawing. The patients cannot recall performing the test because of their declarative memory impairment however their skill level at drawing in reverse is retained so their procedural memory is in tact.

When you consider specific sports you can see they often involve a delicate combination of both. On one hand you have something like golf, whereby the procedural action is working overtime, however there will still be declarative instances when you find yourself playing a new course with odd terrain. On the other hand you are playing tennis you will probably not only want to be able to recall procedurally your server, but also facts about how your opponent deals with backhands, whether she has a powerful serve etc.

Short-term memory hardly seems to be a factor in sport other than perhaps communicating a play or strategy so it will be largely ignored by this blog. Rather working memory is applicable as it encompasses short term memory and involves manipulation of stored short term data. In the examples above working memory would allow the golfer to quickly adapt to a change in wind and the tennis player to react to her opponent's better than expected backhand.

In this case any ingredient that successfully improves procedural, declarative and/or working memory in a siginificant fashion will be identified as a prime candidate for a mental enhancement supplement in sports.

Substance Review: Ginkgo Biloba

Ginkgos are deciduous trees that are ancient enough to be considered living fossils and have been found in the fossil record across the world. They are primarily associated with Asia where the only remaining wild Ginkos grow and where the plant got its reputation as a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

Ginko's earliest mention is in the "Shen-nung pen-ts'ao ching" as an aid for circulation and breathing. Since then various applications of its fruit, leaves and bark have been administered for a range of conditions until eventually Ginkgo found its way to western medicine in the 1950s. In modern alternative medicine it is found as an extract of the fan-like leaves and most often used as a way to enhance learning, help prevent Alzheimer's and improve mood. It has reached quite popular levels with an estimate 2% of the American population using it as a herbal remedy.

Its not documented with any reliability as to how Ginkgo Biloba works, but its modern application focuses on the flavanoids or biologically active material in the leaves known as ginkgolides and bilobalides. It is theorised that these flavanoids are GABA antagonists, which means they stop or slowdown neurotransmission. A light inhibition of nuerotransmission is associated with a reduction of anxiety and a possible maintainance of concentration, while increased inhibition leads to sleepiness.

Physical effects:
If ginkgo creates this calming effect, it may be useful as a nerve settler before a big match or event, but this could come at the cost of feeling lethargic. Of more concern is Ginko's reported side-effects, in particular intercranial bleeding. A comprehensive meta-analysis showed that there was a link between gingko and spontaneous bleeding, though this was most strogly associated with participants who had existing conditions.

Cognitive effects:
For our purposes, Alzheimers is of no true relevance to the improvement of sports specifically so we should focus on ginkgo's purported learning, memory and mood enhancement. That is not to say we will ignore mature atheletes (a category where one of the better gingko studies showed some promise), only that it does not follow that older atheletes will have Alzheimers so it is of no direct benefit to sport.

The amassed research for Gingko is formed of equal parts for and against the herb as a cognitive enhancer. If you stick to the research with best-practice methodologies and ignore the more theoretical studies on rats or small samples of participants, the evidence tends to sway away from any significant cognitive benefit. A popular supplement company's gingko formula was tested to no effect. Similarly a Swedish trial found no impact on memory or learning. That said, a British trial found that Gingko improved quality of memory, while significantly hampering speed of attention. Also in one of the more reliable positive studies ginkgo was found to enhance sustained attention and pattern recognition, however after 6 weeks this enhancement was lost. I would question as to whether it washed out or if it was merely chance and other factors that improved memory attention at the beginning of the trial.


Conclusion:
Ginkgo biloba, may have some very specific cognitive benefits, but it is unlikely. Older athletes looking to stay on top of there game might benefit from cognitive enhancement in remembering and sustained application of say a triathlete's race plan. Younger athlete's might not gain any real benefits from gingko biloba and any they do may well wash out after minimal use. The well conducted trials all point to a distinct lack of evidence for cognitive enhancement, depsite what is touted by TCM and when you consider its genesis in this field was as a blood circulator it hardly seems surprising. Under no circumstance would I recommend gingko as a supplement for martial artists or participants in contact sports. There is a significant correlation between ginkgo and exacerbating bleeding, in particular intercranial bleeding. The risk isnt worth the reward.

What to watch out for:
Sometimes its put in with other herbal remedies and while it may not necessarily be of a significant dosage its good to keep an eye out for:

• Ginkgo biloba is sometime mislabelled as gingko
• Yin Xing
• Maidenhair derivatives

Further reading:
http://www.slate.com/id/2165042/pagenum/all/

Why a mental supplement?

Think about the mental aspect of your sport.

If you participate in a team sport like football this should be easy - what move to play when and how the other team is playing. The number of times an individual has choked or had a brain-snap, giving away points or territory unnecessarily.

In solo sporting pursuits it may be less obvious, but is still prevalent: the martial artist who needs to overcome his opponent's strategy, the car driver who needs to hit the turn perfectly or the runner who needs to implement her race plan with absolute focus.

If sportsmen are using protein, creatine and any number of other supplements to boost muscle power then it stands that a mental supplement should be of equal importance in sports. I can think of a few where it might even be of greater importance.

Perhaps more importantly a mental supplement is not just about cognitive enhancement during the end competition, but the potential for a compounding advantage. The benefits of accelerated learning when applied to a training program are immense. The ability to retain more plays, to learn new techniques rapidly or to adjust to a new directive from a coach is increased. When you compound that across the many training sessions of a modern athlete the results could be phenomenal.

The coming posts will consider some of the more popular supplements and hopefully find a few new ones you haven't heard of. The ingredients of energy drinks that claim mental benefits will be examined as well as some of the more traditional herbal supplements like ginko biloba. Without the resources to create a trial to any decent standard we will rely on publicly published scientific studies as the basis for findings.

By the end we should have a good idea about how to improve our game through supplements or if it is even currently possible.