body and soul
Telling SUP enthusiasts that
their sport gives them a stack
of huge personal life
advantages is like convincing
the French of the benefits of
taking a lover or persuading
the Germans to play efficient
football: it’s not that difficult
to make the argument stick.
But most of the information
out there selling the benefits
of SUP, focus on the physical
bonuses of the sport: the buns
of steel, the rock hard abs and
the toned physique which are
the natural and accidental byproduct of SUP workouts. They
don’t tend to mention what it
also does to the most critical
part of the body – the brain.
Words: Simon Hutchinson
(Hutch SUP Wear owner)
Pic credits:
Craig Osgerby and Fi Plavenieks
Body building
for the brain
When functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI) scanners were first
introduced to the medical community it
gave researchers looking at the brain the
ability to see what was happening inside
without actually having to open the
patient up and poke around.
some areas of their brains were far larger
after taking the knowledge than before. The
act of committing the geography of London
to memory over time had engaged more
activity and through the learning, like
muscles, their brains had physically
changed shape and structure.
One study used fMRI to take a look at the
brains of London cabbies.
Weather conditions
Doing any new activity builds connections
in the brain but paddle boarding gives huge
opportunities for growth because whether
you are a newbie or experienced boarder
there is always something more challenging
you can do with your SUP to crank up the
level of difficulty. If you are out regularly it
is very difficult have a routine experience
because different weather conditions leads
London black cab drivers have to spend
several years doing ‘the knowledge’ which
involves memorizing all the roads and
routes in greater London and being able to
recall the quickest way between any two
points in this huge area. Images of their
brains were taken before starting and after
finishing ‘the knowledge’ and showed that
s
t
a
n
d
u p
p
a
d
d
l
e
m
a
g
u
k
40