Sports are spilled over with devices more or less sophisticated. The shoe is most probably one of the oldest technical tools, which many of us
may not even consider as a device. But imagine what happens, if shoes do not fit well. It can spoil the hard training work of years. Nobody ever questions power meters or navigation systems being devices. There magic performances make us cherish them.
This is not the case with far simpler things such as a pant or a shoe. These we often take for granted not considering the fact that a shirt or a shoe which don’t fit can do a lot of harm. We may get a sore skin or develop all sorts of pain from the ankle to the knee to the back and more.
You have your doubts whether a shirt can be called a device? It sounds ridiculous to you? Then, please think about all the industries behind the shirt that allow us to produce functional wear, the production line starts with oil and ends with a jerzey. We live in a complex world of interdependencies with all our devices and we are little conscious about how they constantly influence us.
We closely interact with the many devices engulfing us, be it the pillow we sleep on, the coffee machine we use every morning, the cloths we wear, the car we drive, the labtop we work with, the list is endless. The coexistence or better coevolution with our devices lets the borders between them and us either melt down, or turn into handicaps, fractious and painful. I am sure you experience both extremes almost every day.
Body perception can be seen as a computational result
If you are ready to follow me insofar that the body (organism) can be seen as stimulus/signal/impulse processing and self-regulating machine, then you may also accept for this moment of time that body perception can be described as the result of all the stimuli/signals/impulses involved in the computation. The body nothing more than a huge computer, scary? No, only a thought experiment! By applying such a straightforward metaphor it is possible to deal with body perception without going into the details of the brain and the consciousness.
Does this approach sound too factual to you? Anyhow, venture out with us for this experiment that is looking at the body as very complex computational machine.
Body perception is changing depending on the devices we use
Let’s summarize: the body consists of vivid currents of signals that make up patterns of which the cells are senders and receivers and interpretors. If the signal patterns change, the body’s condition and perception changes as well, and vice versa. If the processes of emerging patterns are misinterpreted, or not reaching the receiver, if the signals are not strong enough, or not as many as needed for understanding the message, then the intertwined circuits, feedback loops and control cycles regulating the body may lose connection, be disturbed or even disrupted, accordingly body perception changes.
An example: If you have been wearing a shoe for years, a shoe you did not feel anymore, then the shoe is not a shoe anymore, but a part of your body. One day you decide to change your shoe brand. Suddenly everything is different, the shoe is sending signals, and either you get used to it and the shoe develops into a body part again or it remains a foreign body with sore consequences for your body as a whole. The signals initiated by the new shoe may destroy the delicate balance between you and the old shoe. The health issues can then range from an uneasy feeling to suddenly struggling with your running technique or feeling ill and prone to injury. The influences of electronic devices on your body’s balance are much more difficult to analyze, but worthwhile to consider.
Training improves the body’s computational capacities
The aim of training is to constantly improve the performance by optimizing the computational capacities of the various organ systems, be it the metabolism, the immune system, the cardiovascular system or the nervous system. If the body computer succeeds in integrating the various signal currents from all the sources, if there emerges a balance of the ever changing and repeating signal patterns, then you have the perfect body feel, the body perception is that of well-being and health.
In cases of massive changing signal currents, and limited or overburdened processing capacities – both can occur at the same time – the condition of wellbeing can change immediately, just remember a race you had to quit or walk to the finish line, when suddenly you started struggling, and nothing seemed to work smoothly anymore, and all compensatory actions failed.
Within the next few weeks we shall launch body perception experiment with the BIEST BOOSTER. We think that it can be of some support to discover yourself.
We would be very glad, if you gave us your cues for assessing your body’s actual condition. It may really inspire us to put together the experimental set-up. Thank you!
