Mental Control and Exercise- techniques in Biofeedback

[Guest guest]

Recent articles have emphasized the enormous health benefits of exercise

even with epilepsy. I have personally had great success with running over the

last 28 years, which coincided with my nutritional change to a diet high in B

Complex vitamins and trace minerals. In 2006 I was named Runner of the Year in

my running club and there were problems that had to be overcome and I feel it

might be helpful to many of you who are thinking about the benefits of

exercise and the limitations imposed by epilepsy.

 

During an EEG exam the technician often asks you to breath heavily for a

period to observe how the brain waves respond. This often leads to a more

unstable and uncomfortable loss of control resulting in elevated spike

readings,

and we naturally try to avoid this stress. In the early days when I started

running, it eventually triggered a seizure while running. This happened after

running at top speed for over 5 miles in my case. I had a few seizures from

1979 to 1986 before I learned how to control this.

 

The safest way out is to always be sure you are able to carry on a

comfortable conversation while running. If you cannot carry on a conversation,

you are

going too fast for you at THAT time. Later when your body is trained, you

may be able to carry on a conversation at that pace, but now you should go

slower. For beginners this should be the most important consideration. But in

my

case I wanted to go somewhat faster occasionally, when I enter races.The

important thing is to be sure your mind is clear enough to be able to do a

fairly detailed mathematical calculation while running. It will be necessary

to

run on a course that has the distance marked while wearing a racing watch

that digitally displays the exact time in seconds. Casio is a good watch for

this purpose. Most races have mile markers. Some parks have the distance

measured. In my case I do not race longer than 10K or 6.2 miles at close to my

maximum racing capacity (8:00/mile for 6 miles) . Longer races I run

considerably

slower at a 9:15 pace for 10 miles and at 9:30 for a Half Marathon of 13.1

miles.

 

In a 4 mile race I will aim to run 7:40 each mile. When I pass the first

mile marker, I read the time on my watch, which might be 7:43. Then I add 7:40

to 7:43 and come up with 15:23. If actual time is 15:29 , then I add another

7:40 to 15:29 to get 23:09. If actual time is 23:07, then add 7:40 to get

30:47 for the finishing time.

 

If you have any questions, I would be glad to answer them. Just email me.

Arnold