Neurotransmitters in Sports

Neurotransmitters are brain chemicals that transmit information throughout the brain and body. They play a role in muscle fibre innervation upon activity by musculoskeletal system. There are various neurotransmitters in the brain performing different actions before, during or after any activity.

Dopamine enhaces motivation factor

Dopamine is similar to adrenaline. It affects brain processes that control movement, emotional response and ability to experience pleasure and pain. It helps you to stay motivated during progressing phase of an event and pursuing goal despite hindrances and failures.

Adrenaline prepares body for action.

It is responsible for wakefulness or arousal and acts as a spark to initiate any activity. Adrenaline increases fuel supply to muscles and innervate muscle fibers to react in response to the signal. It actually activates CNS, increases heart rate, rate of respiration and prepares body for action.

Acetylcholine helps in nerve conduction.

Acetylcholine is a major neurotransmitter released at the end of neurons called synapses for conduction of nerve impulses through nervous system. It also helps to improve learning skills and memory. It regulates the atomic nervous system (voluntary muscle action) thereby directly affecting strength and power. It’s also responsible for cognition, concentration and focus. It’s severely depleted during exercise session or activity longer than two hours

GABA is the chief inhibitory neurotransmitter and tends to decrease the excitability of nerve cells and CNS activity after an event. It has an anxiolytic effect on the body.

Serotonin promotes recovery and delay fatigue.

It is also an inhibitory neurotransmitter like GABA and its higher activity in brain is linked to hastened fatigue. Higher the levels, high will be the perceived exertion and mental fatigue during exercise. BCAA has been known to decrease the metal and physical fatigue, soreness as they compete with 5HT receptors in brain.

Importance of Neurotransmitters in Sports

Dominant Neurotransmitters helps to decide the Training Parameters for Athletes. 

The dominance of a particular neurotransmitter or the balance among them dictates your personality type and your psychological state. It also helps in deciding the kind of training one must adopt. This helps in deciding the training patterns variation in terms of volume, intensity and recovering capabilities after a workout or an event.

Importance of Digestive Health in Sports

• Healthy Gut Flora plays an important role in endogenous production of short-chain fatty acids and essential vitamins. They directly or indirectly affect performance by optimizing digestion and assimilation
• Adequate levels of pancreatic enzymes and HCL is important for proper digestion of food and assimilation of nutrients.
• Intestinal Integrity is important for the absorption of nutrients and for prevention of unwanted things into the bloodstream directly.
• Chronic Intestinal infection or pathogen leads to inflammation, severely affecting the performance in the long run

Nutrition & Supplements in Sports

Nutritional Supplements play a key role in sports performance and have been into existence for long time. There are hundreds of supplements available in the market claiming to improve sports performance.

Almost every athlete have used supplements during his/her sports career in an attempt to gain a competitive advantage. Few supplements are for daily nutritional needs such as protein, fish oils or multivitamins.

Others are meant to directly improve strength, speed, and endurance or prevent muscle damage. The surprising fact is that very few of active ingredients contained in supplements are effective or result oriented backed up by research.

The labels and claims made by supplement companies are falsely promoted to enhance performance in one way or the other. The dietary supplement industry is not controlled by FDA so it becomes difficult to trust the potency, purity and quality of supplements.

Few points you should take into account while using supplements

• Scientifically validate the efficacy of the supplement
• Correct and accurate labelling
• Ingredients contained in supplement other than active ingredients
• Long term safety of the supplement
• Interactions between two supplements, if any
• Banned substances hid from the label

Functional Sports Nutrition 

Nutritional and Supplemental Strategies have gone leap and bound after functional medicine. Now sports nutrition is not all about hydration status, macros ratios, pre or post nutrition but it goes further.

Functional Medicine in sports focuses on nutritional deficiencies, gastrointestinal health, hormonal imbalances and inflammation. These imbalnces can impede the performance and recovery of an athlete.

Most athletes usually train the same way as their competitors do. The only difference that makes one sportsperson finer and edge over other is through nutrient timing, lifestyle and supplemental strategies.

How RH+ can help you in your Sports Career?

Nutritional and Neurotransmitter Assessment, Blood and Salivary Hormonal Profile helps to find any imbalances related to the adrenal axis, digestive system or neurotransmitters. Every person has body composition, capabilities, physiology and recovery patterns. We also take into account the kind of sports you play or position you are into if it’s a team game.

RH+ will help you unleash the maximum possible potential within you to achieve your sports or fitness goal in minimum time possible with the help of Functional Sports Nutrition program. We will guide you step by step to achieve what you had never known before.