In the early part of this week there have been some interesting items in Australia that have added to the discussions about the role nature and nurture play in practice, performance and posterity.
Matthew Syed, author of Bounce: How Champions are Made was interviewed on Radio National’s Life Matters program. This is a short YouTube clip to prompt discussion about opportunities to practice.
The Annals of Internal Medicine have published a paper on The Effects of Growth Hormone on Body Composition and Physical Performance in Recreational Athletes (Udo Meinhardt, Anne E. Nelson, Jennifer L. Hansen, Vita Birzniece, David Clifford, Kin-Chuen Leung, Kenneth Graham, and Ken K.Y. Ho,.) The paper concluded that “Growth hormone supplementation influenced body composition and increased sprint capacity when administered alone and in combination with testosterone”. There is a podcast discussion of Human Growth Hormone on ABC’s AM program.
This week Professor Robyn Richmond presented findings of her study of 188 Australians who had reached 100 years of age. She suggested that and found maintaining social networks, keeping active physically and mentally, and being open to change were common traits in this cohort. A news item from the University of New South Wales quotes Professor Richmond: “About 20 to 30 per cent of the likelihood of living to 100 is because of your genes. But that leaves 70 to 80 per cent up to environmental factors.” “The major finding of this study is the impact of personality.” This is a podcast link to an interview with Professor Richmond.
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