– Neuromuscular Activation By Means Of Vibrations

A researcher from the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid has collaborated with the University of Granada in the development of a research study on the possible effects of vibrations as a mean of neuromuscular activation to improve jumping performance. The results suggest that the effect could be dependant on the level of training.

Lately, new technologies applied to improving performance and health have experienced a booming rise. One of those has been the use of vibrating platforms to improve athletic performance in general and muscular strength in particular.

The application of mechanical vibrations through technologies like vibrating platforms has been proposed by many recent studies as tool capable of increasing muscular performance. Nevertheless, the results offered are contradictory. This has motivated the group EFFECTS-262 of the Universidad de Granada, in collaboration with the Facultad de Ciencias de la Actividad Física y del Deporte at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, to try to clear this situation by evaluating the possible effects of a short vibration on the jumping abilities of young adults of both sexes.

A group of 114 university students, 37 of them male and 77 female, with an average of 19.6 years of age has been used as test subjects for an experiment to evaluate the height reached by the subjects when jumping, and compare the results with the height reached after a short stimulation by the vibration platform (Fig 1.)

The main parameters to be controlled, since they accurately represent the characteristics of the vibration training, are: the frequency of the vibrations (number of vibration cycles per second, measured in hertz Hz), the time duration of the training measured in seconds or minutes, the amplitude of movement of the vibration source measured in millimeters and the vibration charge that is generated (g)

The results of the study indicate that vibration stimuli ranging from 20 to 30 Hz and lasting from 90 to 120 seconds would generate a short decrease in the jumping heights achieved immediately after the application of the stimulation. However, such decrease seems to completely disappear after a short resting period. The test subjects recovered their normal jumping ability after a minute of recovery, as shown in (fig 2.)

The researchers believe that vibration stimulation could cause a local temporal muscular fatigue that would be the cause of the decrease on the heights reached.

If the results from this study are compared with those presented by experiments with a similar focus, it could be suggested that such stimulation has stronger effects proportional to the level of the training that the subjects are accustomed to. The inclusion of test subjects with low training levels in this study* could account for the decrease in jumping heights. The researchers involved concluded that in subjects that are not actively training, it is convenient to have resting periods of at least a minute after stimulation before jumping to their full potential.

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– A Research On Craving Or The Intense Desire For Tobacco Establishes The Basis For Addiction Control

A research team from the University of Granada has carried out a study on the psychological process that triggers the craving or intense desire for tobacco, a study that could establish the bases to determine the brain mechanisms that activate this state and how to control them.

Miguel Ángel Muñoz García, from the Department of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatment of the University of Granada has carried out this study, under the direction of the Professors Jaime Vila Castelar and Mª Carmen Fernández Santaella.

Craving is an expression used to define an uncontrollable desire for the administration or consumption of an addictive substance. It is usually used in situations of alcohol or nicotine dependence and it is considered as a pathology that affects cognitive resources, as it has an obsessive component.

The researchers of the University of Granada analysed, with the help of a device, 180 regular takers of an addictive substance (cocaine, in this case), to study the emotional mechanisms triggering the addiction for the substance. This study has helped to establish the behavioural mechanisms in cocaine addiction, and consists of the emotional control of different consumption situations.

These results have been the basis of a series of studies with smokers, in withdrawal for 8 hours, to measure the physiological and emotional variables present in withdrawal symptoms using a machine (a polygraph) to estimate the emotional mechanisms responsible for the addiction to that substance. The smokers were shown several images (48) connected with situations that produce desire (related with leisure, free time, coffee…), analysing the heart´s defensive cardiac response produced as well as the startle response. Lastly, brain modifications associated with emotional responses of frustration and impulsiveness in smokers in withdrawal were studied. This system was also used for regular smokers.

Miguel Ángel Muñoz García states that this research has studied for the first time behavioural mechanisms involved in the tobacco craving process determining the brain areas and body responses connected with the compulsive behaviour provoked by tobacco.

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Reference
Dr. Miguel Ángel Muñoz García. Department of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatment, University of Granada.

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