11–20 of 43 posts
What?? This does not sound healthy, especially as there is more and more attention on the long-term adverse effects of traumatic brain injury (concussion). But I guess good for her that she is staying active despite this condition.
"I can't breathe!" "Am I getting a medal?" Well done, American society, well done parents. Edit: I realize this is a snarky comment but this was my initial reading of the article. Sure she is brave. I guess? This just seems rather extreme. It's sure not the kind of values I would want to see in my kids. You know, breathing, and staying conscious, and not depriving one's brain or body of oxygen, these are sort of impo…
Endurance sports like running will lead (even in healthy individuals) to very very mild cases of orthostatic intolerance . If you go from sitting to standing, you might get lightheaded for a few seconds as the body is too slow to react. More here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2343225/pdf/tjp0...
Do you mean that this condition is caused by endurance sports?
"I can't breathe!" "Am I getting a medal?" Well done, American society, well done parents. Edit: I realize this is a snarky comment but this was my initial reading of the article. Sure she is brave. I guess? This just seems rather extreme. It's sure not the kind of values I would want to see in my kids. You know, breathing, and staying conscious, and not depriving one's brain or body of oxygen, these are sort of impo…
"I can't breathe!" "Am I getting a medal?" Well done, American society, well done parents. Edit: I realize this is a snarky comment but this was my initial reading of the article. Sure she is brave. I guess? This just seems rather extreme. It's sure not the kind of values I would want to see in my kids. You know, breathing, and staying conscious, and not depriving one's brain or body of oxygen, these are sort of impo…
On HN there are workaholics, people who sit too long programming, people who smoke or drink in excess, etc.
I hit my head a fair amount of times wrestling in junior high and high school, but turned out fine. (I think.)
If she loves running on her own accord, let her. If she runs like that because her parents want to live vicariously through her, then it's absurd and wrong.
"I can't breathe!" "Am I getting a medal?" Well done, American society, well done parents. Edit: I realize this is a snarky comment but this was my initial reading of the article. Sure she is brave. I guess? This just seems rather extreme. It's sure not the kind of values I would want to see in my kids. You know, breathing, and staying conscious, and not depriving one's brain or body of oxygen, these are sort of impo…
"I can't breathe!" "Am I getting a medal?" Well done, American society, well done parents. Edit: I realize this is a snarky comment but this was my initial reading of the article. Sure she is brave. I guess? This just seems rather extreme. It's sure not the kind of values I would want to see in my kids. You know, breathing, and staying conscious, and not depriving one's brain or body of oxygen, these are sort of impo…
I agree that allowing her to run is a little dangerous, but it's important to compare it to other risks we accept in high school sports. It's not worse than say... pole vaulting. On average, pole vaulting kills one high schooler every year in the US. Dozens suffer traumatic brain injuries. Football casualties are even worse. Distance running is quite tame in comparison, even if one is predisposed to fainting.
Now if you're wondering why someone would subject themselves to fainting, you should also wonder why anyone competes in athletics at all. It seems crazy to spend so much time training and suffering just for a silly medal. I ran competitively in high school and college, and I agree. It is crazy.
That's why you see this sort of behavior in top athletes. There is a huge selection effect. You do not get to the top 0.01% without the right combination of genes, training, and borderline-monomania. Well-balanced people don't win races. I once asked my high school coach what the best personality for distance running was. He grinned and replied, "Sadomasochist. You have to enjoy pain and enjoy inflicting it on others." He was only half-joking.
So take it easy on Sam's parents and US culture. Both seem quite interested in letting her pursue her desires as safely as is feasible.
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In high school, 3-4 hours of each day was lost to training. By college, it was almost a full-time job. I was running 100+ miles a week. It wasn't long before I was constantly fighting overuse injuries, so I quit competing. NCAA Division I is a meat grinder. Despite all that, I still enjoy running today.
"I can't breathe!" "Am I getting a medal?" Well done, American society, well done parents. Edit: I realize this is a snarky comment but this was my initial reading of the article. Sure she is brave. I guess? This just seems rather extreme. It's sure not the kind of values I would want to see in my kids. You know, breathing, and staying conscious, and not depriving one's brain or body of oxygen, these are sort of impo…
"I can't breathe!" "Am I getting a medal?" Well done, American society, well done parents. Edit: I realize this is a snarky comment but this was my initial reading of the article. Sure she is brave. I guess? This just seems rather extreme. It's sure not the kind of values I would want to see in my kids. You know, breathing, and staying conscious, and not depriving one's brain or body of oxygen, these are sort of impo…
"I can't breathe!" "Am I getting a medal?" Well done, American society, well done parents. Edit: I realize this is a snarky comment but this was my initial reading of the article. Sure she is brave. I guess? This just seems rather extreme. It's sure not the kind of values I would want to see in my kids. You know, breathing, and staying conscious, and not depriving one's brain or body of oxygen, these are sort of impo…
She had a goal and she was pushing herself to reach it, despite the fact that she has an abnormal medical condition. I'm failing to see how that's a failure either of parenting or American society.
The article states that, "All of the doctors they visited cleared Sam to run." The father notes, "If we didn’t have the utmost medical clearance for her to run, she wouldn’t be running." So apparently doctors don't think her medical circumstances should preclude her from racing or racing hard, and the parents are taking all of the precautions that they can and listening to the best medical advice they can find.
Describing it as "Depriving one's brain or body of oxygen" is accurate, but very misleading. Depriving a brain or body of oxygen is quite literally exercise, just phrased to sound more scary. That's like saying, "Would you want to put chemicals into the body of a developing child?" neglecting the fact that H2O is, in fact, a chemical.