During the Edinburgh International Festival of August 2012 twenty two talks were given at Leith on the Fringe at the Out of the Blue venue. They were free and open to everyone

Name of speaker

Mike McInnes

Title of Talk

The Consciousness of the Long Distance Runner; The Exercise Theory of Relativity

Bullet points you would like to cover:

The absolute overriding parameter in all exercise and recovery physiology is that of optimally provisioning cerebral energy, via the liver, over and above all other organs and tissues. Failure to optimally provision cerebral energy, via the liver, during each of these two events results in chronic metabolic stress and increased risk of all the metabolic diseases.
Athletes and their coaches are universally ‘liver blind’ and failure to make such provision results in training deficits, poor performance and long term negative health.

Is sport this ‘liver blind’ approach results in osteoporosis, infertility, impaired immune function with increased risk of infections, and in American professional footballers increased risk of diabetes from age 35.  Italian footballers suffer from 5 times the national average for motor neurone disease. Failure to provision cerebral energy during sport compromises cognition and mental acuity, in other words the long distance runner’s consciousness.
Optimally provisioning cerebral energy during exercise, via the liver is ‘permissive’ of increased delivery of glucose to muscle, allowing for increased glucose oxidation and therefore increased power. In this sense powering the brain powers muscles!

The Exercise Theory of Relativity takes Einstein’s beautiful formula E = MC2 and reverses it to E = CM2

The formula (with apologies to Einstein) is of course a spoof or metaphorical formula, but it focuses on the most neglected area of sport physiology, the absolute overriding requirement of provisioning cerebral energy, via the liver, during all exercise and athletic events, over and above that of all other organs and tissues, including muscle.
This talk will focus on the optimal ways for fuelling cerebral energy during exercise and during recovery.
 

Websites and / or texts where further information may be found:

Kegg Biochemical Pathways

A few words about you and your passion:

Mike McInnes is a Scottish pharmacist who has been studying the biology of the brain liver axis for some years. There are emerging areas of biological study which are casting new light on why the body acts certain ways under certain conditions. Having worked in Pharmacy for several decades and then moved into the area of sports physiology.

A few lines about the history of your subject:

The study of physiology has gone on for millenia, many of the discoveries culminating in the birth of the age of digital technology. With more information collected together and made available to so many people, the possibilities to arrive at a joined up conception of the human body are causing various emerging understandings.