News Author Ann Constantino
Whatever Happens in Vagus, Stays in Vagus
Photo by Kelvin Valerio from Pexels There is a nerve in the human body that regulates heart function, influences digestion, informs you when it’s safe to relax, and promotes efficient swallowing and speaking. This longest cranial nerve (originating in the brain) also receives…
Don’t Cramp My Style
Photo by Imani Bahati on Unsplash What happens when the nerves within your muscle tissue become abnormally excitable or confused? That muscle will involuntarily contract, tense and shorten, resulting in what is called either a spasm or a cramp, or any number…
It’s a Stretch
Photo by Anupam Mahapatra Can you touch your toes without bending your knees? Can you scratch that itch in the center of your back? How about doing the splits the way you could when you were on the Cheer team…
Fascia-natin’ Rhythm
Photo by Geert Pieters on Unsplash Around the exercise and movement world, connective tissue known as fascia was once scraped aside as unimportant by anatomists studying the more self-explanatory tissues such as muscle and bone. These days fascia is being…
Being in the Zone
Photo by S Migaj on Unsplash Last time we talked about neuroplasticity and how the brain can change itself based on what is demanded of it and how it is used. Among the various restructurings that have been studied are…
Your Brain on Plastic
Photo by Rebe Pascual on Unsplash Not long ago neuroscientists believed that the human brain developed along a predictable timeline and that windows for certain types of growth closed at some point, creating a kind of final draft of the…
Finding the Balance
Photo by Pixabay from Pexels Balance is such an important factor in health that the human body evolved several distinct systems to keep itself upright in all kinds of shaky situations. When one or another is compromised, the others kick in more efficiently…
Baby You Can Drive My Car
Photo by Maxwell Ridgeway on Unsplash Driving one’s own car may become a thing of the past within many of our life spans, but until then, spending long periods of time behind the wheel can create some patterns in the…
Breathe Easy
Photo by Alexandr Podvalny from Pexels What do you do roughly 20,000 times a day but barely realize it’s happening? What is the first thing you do when you are born and the last thing you do before shuffling off this mortal coil?…
Feet, Don’t Fail Me Now
Photo by Brina Blum on Unsplash The human foot is a structure that evolved to bear the weight of a mobile, usually intelligent biped via a wide variety of locomotive techniques. Our ancestors moved about on rough ground which necessitated…