Your Mind: Sharpening Your Game-Day Mindset
June 29, 2007
I found this pretty interesting and its certainly worth looking into. It appears that the natural body chemical dopamine — a neurotransmitter in the brain — has many functions including important roles in behavior and cognition, motor activity, motivation, mental clarity, alertness and concentration. It’s also interesting to note that exercise promotes the development of dopamine.
So, I got to thinking - how is this chemical depleted? How can it effect physical performance and is it safe for the body to produce dopamine at higher levels for increased mental focus and performance?
Can increased dopamine levels really help soccer players?
According to the wikipedia community and proven scientific fact, extremely high levels of dopamine can cause psychosis and can be done so by using drugs like cocaine. Warning: stay away from that stuff "cocaine" as I think Homer (see brain x-ray above) had a little too much in the 70’s!
Dopamine production can be managed to a certain extent and you can learn more about how here. Increased dopamine can certainly effect physical performance from the research that I have done but one must manage this carefully and naturally.
In moderate levels, by using natural herbs to slighty increase dopamine production along with regular exercise, which soccer players should be getting plenty of (I hope), you may be able to elevate or increase mental focus and athletic agility. I’ve provided a list of recommended supplements and foods to consider.
Supplements:
- L-Phenylalanine
- Vitamin B-50, B-6
Useful sources of building blocks for dopamine:
- Apples
- Beets
- Blue-green algae
- Celery
- Chicken
- Cucumber
- Fish
- Green leafy vegetables
- Honey
- Cheese
- Sweet peppers
- Tofu
- Watermelon
Some other interesting reading on natural supplements and dopamine can be found at Dr. Ray Sahelin’s website and at the Science Daily. I hope this information was useful and interesting…let me know.
– Jason
Comments
Got something to say?
