The Performance Scientist

The Importance of being Learnest
6 years ago this weekend I co-skippered a yacht in the infamous Round the Island race for The Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, a registered charity that supports young people aged 8–24 to rebuild their confidence after cancer.

If there’s anything to knock the wind out of your sails, put life into perspective and be a lesson learned it’s a group of kids battling their way at such a young age.

Half way through the race we withdrew. The wind direction changed before we made it around the point. They enjoyed the sailing but most of all they enjoyed being with other kids just like them. So we motored back to the marina singing shanty songs, then they all fell alseep on the deck, then we took them for fish & chips.

Winners each and every one of them.

Do you know you can set up a direct debit each month for charities that make a difference. I do it for Great Ormond Street. It’s not a huge amount but it’s been sustained for 9 years so somewhere, along with everyone else doing the same, it makes a difference.

And if we can make a positive difference no matter how small we sleep better at night.

Is your business missing a trick? 🧐
As a Human Performance Scientist specialising in challenging outdoor environments… I love the fact challenging outdoor environments can contribute to workforce wellness.

The University of Exeter (U.K) released an excellent white paper entitled Health and the Natural Environment: A Review of Evidence, Policy, Practice and Future Opportunities. ☀️ 💦 🚶‍♂️ ⛰️ 🛥️ 🏜️

So what did it say? The below is a summary. And it makes me wonder why businesses are not utilising the concept of nature, outdoors and adventure as a solution for business continuity? It doesn’t mean Doris from accounts actually has to hike a mountain (!) It means transferring lessons from the wild into your workspace.

- Nature and health are fundamentally linked. Regular exposure to nature can improve mental health, reduce stress, lower blood pressure, and increase physical activity.

- Health inequalities can be reduced through equitable access to quality green and blue spaces.

- Nature-based solutions are underutilised in mainstream healthcare but show promising results (e.g. social prescribing).

- There’s strong support for scaling up green infrastructure to reduce long-term pressure on health services.

While there is a strong push for youth engagement with nature, outdoors and adventure through school curricula the same can not be said for adult places of work.

Is your business missing a trick? 😳

The Exeter white paper has direct and strategic implications for workforce wellness. How? By translating theory into sustainable workplace solutions.

Need an example? Footwear. If you have a protocol to change from heels/brogues to comfy trainers I hypothesise this will positively impact workforce activity e.g walking up the stairs rather than taking the elevator. It will also improve physiological gait which in turn reduces injury levels. There are dozens of tiny little things transferable from outdoors indoors that, accumulated, have big impact.

Lessons from the wild for agents of change. Be ahead of the curve.

[email protected]

Sunday Philosophy
An ancient Chinese philosopher, once said: “It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop” This is a particularly useful observation if you are descending a closed mountain pass in the height of winter, take a wrong turn because deep snow covered up route markers, and end up in a forrest literally not able to see the wood for the trees.

Not that has ever happened to me of course 😬 but the photo shows a strategically placed toilet on the side of THAT mountain high up on the ascent (random!)

What can we take from the old saying which is useful to everyday performance?

Keep going. If you can do that you’ve already one step more forward than you would otherwise be.

The thing I love about the outdoors is it forces you to perform in a certain way. That wrong turn added about 4 hours to an already long, cold descent but stopping would have meant turning into an ice cube.

So we slowed down. Re-planned. Maybe said a few choice words (!) Had a snack. Wondered who owns the toilet. Rerouted. Then ploughed our way through thigh deep snow. But we didn’t stop.

Being able to get somewhere difficult or do something hard when everything goes according to plan is one thing. Being able to adapt to a mistake and carry on regardless is something else.

So keep going, even if it means more like tortoise than a hare.

The following is a nice analogy using an adventure race as an example - these lessons are transferable to every day life. A good way to link the two is to read the article then write a self-reflective piece using your own work life and challenges to integrate the approach. This is also gives you something to refer back to. High performing individuals like medical professionals self-reflect heavily as part of their daily worklife so it’s an academically tried and tested concept.

https://lnkd.in/e2QFPYKV

Operational Readinesszzzzzzz
Margaret Thatcher was famous for only sleeping 4 hours per night… but recently released government files highlighted a tendency of strategic cat naps in the car. A bit like Vendee Globe sailors who have to sleep intermittently across 24 hours given they are sailing around the world single-handed.

Are you the Prime Minister or an Extreme Sailor… No? Then why aren’t you getting your full (Gold Standard) 8 hours a night?

Sleep isn’t the downfall of the lazy - its a biological weapon of the elite. A lack of sleep has been blamed for up to 45% drop out rate amongst U.K army recruits… Train Hard, Fight Easy or Train Strategic, Fight Easy?

And every year, like clockwork, heart attacks increase by 24% on the Monday after Daylight Saving Time (+1 forward) according to a clever Michigan Hospital investigation. Lose an hour, lose your life. Pretty strong advertisement for a decent night’s sleep 😳

Some benefits of 8 hours sleep include
improved mood, enhanced cognitive function, a stronger immune system, and a reduced risk of chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes.

Here’s how to prepare your bedroom for a quality nights sleep:

https://lnkd.in/evDXH4iF

Hint: A snow hole is not conducive to a good nights sleep 🥶Stick to your bed!

😴

Bat poo crazy 💩
Have you ever wondered where this phase comes from? Zoonoses, pathogens that jump from animals to humans, is a side interest of mine. I was introduced to this field of study in 2019 during a Tropical Medicine module as part of MSc Extreme Medicine.

You will never look at fruit bats in the same way… They are thought to be the natural reservoir for a multitude of Zoonoses including Ebola, a nasty hemorrhagic fever virus that recently inflicted the capital city of Uganda while we were there.

The outbreak is interesting from a public health perspective as previously such Zoonotic outbreaks would be confined to a remote village and poorly reported upon. Yet, as we have learned from Covid, which is another Zoonotic disease, also thought to originate from bats, pathogens can now piggy back on our increased travel patterns.

Fortunately, unlike Covid, Ebola is not airborne. It is transmitted by direct contact with a symptomatic patient, by consuming an infected bat, by consuming an infected animal (eg consumed animal had eaten fruit with infected bat saliva), a scratch/bite of an infected bat, or inhalation/ingestion of infected bat urine/dried faeces.

Interestingly, deforestation has an impact on bat interaction with humans. Destroying their habitats forces them to seek alternative nesting locations, such as man made structures.

Anyway, on a hike near the border of Congo we came across a cave we had to go through, but knowing the above I wasn’t very keen. I kept my head down until I didn’t… and my headtorch lit up a little furry body hanging out upside down with 2 of his buddies.

It felt like the start of a Contagion movie script, and I would be lying if I didn’t admit to hightailing it out of there. And I still stick to my risk assessment… even if our guide told me the local tribesmen concluded there was only 1 person in that cave that was bat poo crazy… 🤭

If you’re as interested as I am in Zoonotic disease an excellent introductory read is ‘Spillover’ by David Quammen. The knowledge came in incredibly useful as much of the interventions we replicated during the height of the Delta variant (Covid) for the movie industry was based upon best practice for Ebola (eg how to don and doff PPE when swabbing). Fascinating! 🤓

Thoroughly enjoyed presenting for the Middle-East Sports Medical Journal Aspetar سبيتار to approximately 400 medical, health care and performance specialists. On the theme of ‘Extremes’ my lecture investigated how and why grass-roots population health could benefit from a microadventure approach.

There is emerging research on this topic and a dearth of practical sustained application at a global Heath of the Nation level despite overwhelming evidence that engagement with an outdoor environment facilitates a range of physical, mental and social benefits.

Interestingly, the U.K experienced a spontaneous microadventure upsurge of ‘wild swimming’ during/post Covid amongst a demographic that has been traditionally challenging to engage. 79% of Perimenopausal/Menopausal women who commenced wild swimming did so since 2020 and cited reduced anxiety, mood swings and hot flushes in addition to feelings of life-affirmation as perceived benefit.

One angle I find interesting is every single human evolved from hunter-gatherers, as such outdoor adventure is a common denominator m, in our DNA and a potential one-size-fits-all approach to population health, despite research currently stating the most impactful physical activity initiatives are demographic-specific.

However, in order to re-engage with our roots we need to better position adventure as something for everyone. It depends where your boundaries are as to whether you trek up Everest to feed ambition or trek to your local park to feed ducks.

Traditional interventions to target population health need something in addition to stem the rise of global health concerns such as Obesity and Loneliness.

Could microadventures be the magic key?

1000 km. 10 walkers. 1 month. Day 30.
It’s a wrap! From the border of Saudi to the border of Oman. Along the coast, through the desert, around the mountains, and via occassional urban backdrops. A hugely successful mission with a hugely important message. Be. More. Active.

Congratulations to the team for taking on and completing Walk 1000.

…………………………………….

1000km. 10 walkers. 1 month. Day 1.

A trek to inspire the health of a nation. The message? Every single step makes a difference.

Being physically active at any level has a wealth of physiological and psychological benefits. Being physically active outdoors boosts this further. Add a little adventure and you are well on your way.

Your adventure can be a walk in the park with your family… to a World First across the sands of time.

We wish everyone involved a successful Mission. Godspeed.

Human Performance Science
What sets individuals apart from the crowd? Why do some workforces thrive? Who is happy? How can we be ‘more’?

In the dark pages of dusty journals that people don’t read are the answers. Research that has been carefully undertaken so it can be applied real world. The skill of a Human Performance Scientist is taking that research and translating it into practical interventions on the ground to benefit.

A good example is a clever approach to mitigating heat stress during endurance events in the desert. ‘Be bold start cold’ is commonly applied to cold weather events as athletes will warm naturally as soon as they start activity (mindful of peripherals). For a current desert project we’ve gone for ‘Before hot cool alot’ Why start an event already warm..?

And these approaches can be transferred from the field into business. For example, Blue Collar Workers productivity is impacted by rising heat - what simple measures could reduce heat stress, boost productivity and mental wellbeing all in one hit? How could this be adapted for office workers in the Middle East to keep them safe and healthy?

This time 2 years ago I was working as Chief Scientific Advisor for World Extreme Medicine | B Corp Certified / Paramount Pictures on major Hollywood movies throughout the pandemic. Alongside the Chief Medical Advisor we took emerging COVID research to construct and implement bespoke protocols based on cultural behaviour and global locations. Paramount was the only studio that did not shut down at any stage throughout those 3 years. They trusted the science and World Extreme Medicine experts to interpret as required.

So Human Performance Science is very, very cool. It impacts every area of our lives 24/7.

But maybe not quite as cool as the wrap jacket in the post from Mission Impossible 8… 😋

… oh come on you know you would have posted about that too! Feel like a kid at Christmas. And yes I will be wearing it as it’s the awesome outdoor kit Haglöfs 😎

Are you looking at me? A 3 day 950 km desert recce skirting around the edges of the Rub Al Khali (otherwise known as The Empty Quarter) lived up to its name. On day 3 we finally encountered someone and a staring content ensued. With temperatures hitting 50 degrees and the coordinates logged I accepted defeat and relinquished the turf in favour of the vehicle.

But we passed by some spectacular scenery, historical locations, a big surprise, beduoin camps in the middle of nowhere, old water wells and new phone towers, plus glimpses of Tal Moreeb from 100km away. We swamped water and bags of nuts for news about local farm owners and watched beautiful sunsets against orange sands.

Abu Dhabi is a tale of two cities - the current and the past. Feel very fortunate ‘work’ is having these sorts of opportunities to explore - be it far afield or close to home.

Adventure Sports Science & Medicine
Are you a U.K based student, graduate, lecturer, sports coach, or established professional in the field of Sport & Health Sciences?

Looking to diversify your skill set to enhance employability within the multi-billion dollar adventure & expedition industry?

Join me on Dartmoor (U.K) March 2025 for a deep-dive into working with amateur and elite athletes in challenging environments.

▶️ How to construct adventure planning
documents
▶️ Targeted development of situational
awareness
▶️ Common injuries and illness in
adventure settings
▶️ Environmental impact on performance
▶️ Risk mitigation and management
▶️ Outdoor Emergency First Response
▶️ Case study analysis
▶️ Key secondary skill development
▶️ Simulated emergency scenarios
▶️ Leading and working as a team

Adventure Sports Science & Medicine
Dartmoor, United Kingdom
Sat 01 and/or Sun 02 March 2025
£225 (Day 1 or Day 2) or £425 (2 days). Meals and accommodation included for both days.

Bookings open. Contact me directly via LinkedIn message or [email protected] for a copy of the timetable and further details.

This mixture of didactic and practical sessions will expand your skill sets to work with amateur and elite adventure sport athletes, and to add value to relevant industry projects.

Underpinned by 25 years experience and applied research. Certificates upon completion.

Urban First Responder
Delighted to revitalise collaboration with Dan Edwardes, CEO of to bring our Urban First Responder certification back to the streets of London post-Covid.

We live in changing times with greater responsibility to keep each other safe. First person on scene during a city-based incident is you - the bystander. Would you know what to do?

Our 1 day Urban First Responder certification is an immersive real-time training experience outside of a classroom. Available from July 2024. Teaching faculty will be paramedics and doctors specialising in Extreme Medicine sourced via World Extreme Medicine

If you know what to do, you’re more likely to do something. Don’t just be another bystander.