The
Optimum Performance Concept
When they talk about their physical goals in work or in
sports, people usually say they would like to do their best, meaning, reach their maximum
output. It is a matter of achieving their absolute limit in speed, strength, endurance or
skill and combining the elements with accuracy. This is no different than an athlete
training for maximum performance in the Olympic Games.
The difficulty with focusing everything on maximum
performance is that only a single goal, getting the highest results - fastest, biggest,
quickest, longest, or most graceful - is considered a superlative or acceptable
achievement. Maximums do not take into consideration other aspects of body performance
which often prove to be just as important to the individual. Emphasis upon the demands for
maximum performance is frequently portrayed with the thought that "Winning isn't
everything, it's the only thing."
Imagine for a moment a "maximum" performance
in the car industry - the perfect automobile. It is incredibly graceful and the
aerodynamic, functional lines make it a thing of beauty. It accelerates from zero to 60
miles per hour within a few seconds. It brakes, corners and steers with a fineness that
would permit a nears-sighted 75-year old to compete at Le Mans. The suspension is so
smooth that a passenger can pour liquids without spilling a drop. The car requires only
minimal maintenance while averaging 50 miles per gallon in city driving. Best of all, it
is the vehicle of the common man at a price of $5000. If all that sound impossible, it is.
Incorporating all of these "maximums" into a single automobile exceeds the
ability of any designer or manufacturer. Instead, the individual shopping for a car must
choose the attributes he or she feels are most important.
Therein lies the problem. Some goals are partly, if not
wholly, incompatible with others. An automatic transmission uses more gas than a standard
shift, but it does make driving easier. Sleek aerodynamic lines add grace and reduce drag,
but they can also lessen head room. High performance engines provide power, but require
constant care. The solution is a compromise, a willingness to make tradeoffs. This same
spirit of compromise, of accepting something less than a single maximum, should govern the
operation of the most important machine in our lives - our body. Reality must be applied
when comparing ourselves to Olympic athletes or, with the progression of age, mimicking
various youthful physical activities. For example, there is no need to have an endurance
capacity equal to the current Gold Medalist or the strength level equivalent to the World
heavyweight record holder. Likewise, senior citizens may resist relinquishing their
drivers' licenses despite their slower reaction times, poorer eyesight, and/or hearing, as
well as frequently suffering from some type of chronic disease which may further reduce
their strength, joint mobility, or even cognitive processes such as memory or decision
making.
Instead of a maximum, what most people really want from
their bodies is to "optimize" their performances and lives. They seek the most
efficient use of energy, of bodily action consonant with productive output, health, and
enjoyment. Many people are beginning to appreciate that certain types of exercise add to
the vitality of the cardiovascular system, lessen the risk of heart attack, and make it
possible to live longer and more active lives. In other words, the willingness to
sacrifice 20 yards on a drive off the golf tee may mean that the golfer's feet will be
able to walk the entire course without being tortured during every step. The desire is to
play a couple of hours of winning tennis, stroking the ball with pace and purpose, but not
if the extra zing means a tennis elbow that will be sore for several weeks. Sensible
joggers prefer to run six rather than ten miles a day in 40 minutes if the latter leads to
tender knees and shin splints. In other words, human beings must compromise between
anatomy (the structural components) and physiology (the bodily processes). A correct
balance between the two, at all ages, will assist in optimizing bodily efficiency.
In addition to the desire for our "internal
environment" to be physical fit, pertinent questions should be posed about our
"external environment". For example, is it really necessary for that designer
chair to cause a bone ache deep in the buttocks after sitting for five minutes. Cannot a
person spend a day laboring over a desk or piece of machinery without feeling as if a rope
had been tightly tied around the shoulders at the end of the project? Why must a weekend
with shovel or rake inevitably produce low back pain on Monday? Why is it that some
individuals who are 50 years old seem able to work and play as if 10 to 20 years younger,
while some 30-year-olds act as if infected with a malignant decrepitude? The answer is
that, as with the anatomy and physiology achieving optimal coordination, so should the
whole human organism coordinate better with its environment.
Perhaps these examples could be dismissed as the minor
aches of a hypochondriac society overly concerned with its comfort. But the overall health
facts for the United States and many other modern civilizations appall even those jaded by
constant warnings of disaster. Some 25 millions American adults suffer from heart disease;
a total of 75 million Americans are afflicted with chronic disease. On any given day, more
than one million workers do not show up for their jobs because of illness, and sickness
prevents a million of these from returning in less than a week. Twenty-eight million
Americans have some degree of disability. Perhaps not coincidentally, a quarter of the
population is classified as overweight. At least three million citizens have diabetes, and
half are unaware of the problem, and the U.S. accounts for most of the deaths due to
cardio-vascular disease. The health profile of the future, the condition of the youth of
today, offers no comfort. About one of five youngsters still cannot pass even a simple
test of physical performance. More than nine million American children under the age of 15
have a chronic ailment. From one third to one half of all U.S. children are over weight
and one third of America's young men fail to meet military physical fitness requirements,
which are not terribly high.
In pursuit of technological achievement, Americans have
almost eliminated the one major element besides food and rest needed to sustain the human
body - physical activity. This has lent impetus to a subtle yet deadly disease which has
reached epidemic proportions in this country and others. Cardiovascular disease is often
referred to as hypokinetic disease or lack-of-motion disease.
Unfortunately, degeneration with Americans begins earlier
rather than later. One study indicates that middle age characteristics start to show at
approximately age twenty-six. The peak age for heart disease among American men is
forty-two years. In Europe, it is 10 years later. A corporate wide employee health survey
conducted by a large computer manufacturer indicated that smokers have 25 percent higher
health care costs and 114 percent longer hospital stays than nonsmokers. People who did
not exercise have 36 percent higher health care costs and 54 percent longer hospital stays
than people who did exercise. Overweight people have 7 percent higher health care costs
and 85 percent longer hospital stays than people who are not. In general, people with poor
health habits have higher health care costs, longer hospital stays, lower productivity,
more absenteeism, and more chronic health problems than those who do not.
Some questions both workers and their companies should ask
are: (1) How many heart attacks, strokes, cancers, or coronary by-pass operations did your
company pay for last year? (2) How much better would profits have been if heart diseases
had been reduced 10, 20, or 30 percent? (3) How much would corporate profits increase if
employee health care costs were reduced by 10 percent?
One large U.S. corporation developed a comprehensive
wellness program at numerous sites. During the first year, grievances decreased by 50
percent, on-the-job accidents by 50 percent, lost time by 40 percent, and sickness and
accident payments by 60 percent. The corporation estimated at least a three to one return
per dollar invested.
What is required for such an optimum way of life is a
scientific analysis of the way people live and use their bodies. Only after such a
quantitative examination can a concept of cost be determined or ascertain whether there is
a better way to do something which is more efficient and less damaging to the body. For
instance, rapid weight loss may result from running long distances, such as 15 miles a
day, fasting drastically, or performing aerobics for five hours a day. However, such
excessive training regimens may be as detrimental to the body as sitting all day in an
easy chair and simply ignoring one's obesity.
Evolution, culture, and the changing demands of existence
have tended to develop forces and stresses upon the body which are not necessarily in
harmony with the basic design and structure of the human equipment. Standing upright,
humans employ one pair of extremities for support and the other pair capable of tremendous
versatility. It would seem that of all animals, man, fortuitously assisted by the
evolution of his brain and other organs, optimized the use of his body. Unfortunately, the
human body has had to pay a stiff price for it's upright posture. Human vertical posture
is inherently unstable, therefore, humans must devote more neuromuscular effort and
control to maintaining balance than four-legged animals. There is a tendency to lean
forward, which adds to the ability to move in that direction, but increases the risk of
falling. A complex neuromuscular process is constantly at work to prevent man from
toppling. Many things may interfere with this balancing act, such as consuming too much
whiskey or walking on an icy sidewalk. These interruptions of the flow of information to
and from the brain center which coordinates the balancing process and can result in
staggering or falling. This postural condition creates a constant strain on all the
muscles employed to retain balance and upon the set of bones forming the spine.
The spine is basically a tower of I-beams which supports
the skeletal frame and, in order to remain in good health, proper mechanical alignment is
essential. Any deviation from this mechanical alignment will result in pain relating to
non-alignment, such as low back or neck pain. The vulnerability of the back is threatened
frequently by work, recreation situations, and furnishings, since their uses subject an
already tenuous upright position to undergo increased stresses As the body compensates for
alignment problems by creating excess bone tissue and neural pain, certain arthritic
conditions may be the result.
Correction or prevention in tools or activities may assist
in the optimization of performance and in more closely aligning the biological with the
chronological age. Clearly, optimization and compensation may conflict within the human
mechanism since a logical idea may violate physical principles. Based on this introduction
of merely a few of the internal and external challenges to the human organism, the need
for adequate and accurate assessments, improved tools, and human behavioral modifications
becomes more apparent.