Olympic Legacy

The legacy of the Olympics has been one of the most heavily promoted aspects of the London games, which even has its own development corporation based on using the infrastructure created to regenerate the iconic East End of London.

A legacy is defined as ‘a gift of property, or anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor.’ This particular definition of legacy is what most of the focus is upon, that is how this local area, given a much needed injection of investment, will utilise these resources in order to flourish. But that is a fairly limited view of the legacy, which doesn’t really address the majority of the UK population.

Legacy is also defined as ‘of or pertaining to old or outdated computer hardware, software, or data that, while still functional, does not work well with up-to-date systems.’ This definition on the other hand applies to a legacy that can affect us all regardless of our locale. The reason the location is irrelevant is because we all carry this particular infrastructure within us, it is the only place you can truly call home. That place is your brain.

Unlike a computer infrastructure which cannot keep pace with technological development, the Human brain has a neat trick; it can update its hardware and software in response to the information put into it. However, in order to do this it has to be given the right information, at the right time, in the right way. Without these specific conditions the updates cannot occur. This upgrade is known as neurogenesis, which is the growth of new neurons in the brain. It’s a fairly new science; only really gathering pace around 1997, but substantial amounts of knowledge has been gathered in these 15 years.

So what has this got to do with the Olympics? Well, like myself, you probably have found yourself being a voracious spectator of the amazing displays of skill the Olympians provided over the 2 weeks of the games, whether at the venues or simply in front of your TV. Whilst viewing the sports you probably would’ve felt at least some kind of stimulation from witnessing some of the most magnificent performances ever produced by a Human. However, this level of stimulation does nothing to promote growth of your mind. But real sport participation, that’s a completely different animal.

I use the word ‘real’ purposely, as in the last few years video games using motion sensing technology have become very popular. Although enjoyable, these simulations do not engage the brain in the same way as actual participation, and do not stimulate growth of the brain. In fact there’s mounting evidence, especially in regards to sporting performance, that they may actually hinder it.

Taking part in physical activity, especially those that require higher degrees of skill and the necessary focus and mental application to be successful, are key to promoting growth of new neurons, especially in the areas of the brain that are particularly vulnerable to degeneration; the striatum and the hippocampus. The striatal cortex is the area of your brain responsible for balance, movement and decision making. The hippocampus is where your memories are formed. Loss of neurons and functioning in these key areas are central in development of Parkinson’s (Striatum) and Alzheimer’s (both Striatum and Hippocampus).

As is becoming readily apparent, our increased longevity is opening the doors to disease states that were in less long-lived days fairly rarely seen. These longer lived diseases will primarily affect the brain, whereas we can patch up or replace many body-parts; with the brain it’s not quite so simple. You have to create what’s called a cognitive reserve, which is essentially a buffer, so that even when the inevitable neuronal die-off occurs, you have hopefully built up enough neurons to see you through your days intact. And this is where sports and physical activity come into play; they help build this cognitive reserve infrastructure. Two of the ways it does this is through increased blood flow to vital areas of the brain, and stimulation of Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) which we know is key for improvements in learning and memory.

If you already participate in sport or physical activity, that’s great, but to take advantage of your brains ability to grow new neurons, activity must tick a few boxes.

It needs to voluntary. It’s likely that forced activity creates an excessive stress response, which among other things elevates levels of Cortisol. Chronic levels of Cortisol are a known cause of neuron loss in the Hippocampus.

As previously suggested it needs to demand your attention, if it’s so easy that there is no active involvement then there is little stimulation to your brain. Challenge is key, which leads onto the next requirement, adrenaline.

Although an excessive stress response is detrimental, a lower level of stress is needed to illicit a response. So sports and activities that cause excitement are definitely order of the day. Again, this leads onto a further requirement; success and failure. You have to perceive whether you’ve been successful or unsuccessful in order for your brain to set up the correct environment for growth. And key to this, is how closely the signal follows the execution. The more immediate the signal for success or failure is to the action, the more effective the stimulation. This is related to an axiom in neuroscience known as Hebbian theory which is summed up as ‘neurons that fire together, wire together’.

To further up the ante in regards to success/ failure, alongside the signal there needs to be immediate reward or punishment for success or failure respectively. In regards to this success/failure outcome, the sport or activity should be sufficiently adjusted in difficulty so that failure occurs approximately once every 6-10 times.

So if you’ve found yourself inspired by a sport from the games, or you’ve seen a sport that you may not even known existed, make use of your current excitement and go and get involved.

Regenerate your own infrastructure and become part of the Olympic legacy, it’s the best investment you’ll ever make.