Do you think that aspies are generally weaker?
Aspieallien
Pileated woodpecker
Joined: 8 Jul 2009
Age: 49
Gender: Male
Posts: 190
Location: NSW, Australia
I agree with you with on your point on FT versus ST fibers and tendon insertions. A person can actually increase their FT fibers if they work out with heavy weights to the point of fatigue. I was better at sprinting and unusually strong for my size.
I think there is another factor, kind of pathological, that is common to alot of folks on the autism spectrum:
I think the reason so many AS folks are so intense and sometimes accomplish incredible things is because we have to overcome adversity to survive.
I got alot of verbal abuse from kids in school, but it just gave me motivation to try harder at everything I did. Maybe that's where some of us get our perfectionist nature. I lived most of my life with a "do or die" level of intensity in the health, school, work, and social arena. I ended up as an Athletic Director at a Military Installation.
I've done some research on this and found that a person's level of arousal and state of mind can increase the level of adrenaline in their body, affecting the nervous systems "rate coding" ability to increase the contraction of muscles. I think this also contributes to our ability to laser focus. I always wondered why my mind would shut down when I wasn't at school or work, but have come to realize that It was just an adaptation to the amount of stress that I put myself under necessary for recovery and survival.
I think the biggest health issue concerned with AS is the damaging effects of stress hormones on the body systems. I believe the best way a person on the AS spectrum can have a healthy life is to make sure they rest their nervous system as much as possible; otherwise burnout and exhaustion are almost inevitable before you reach middle age.
General adaptation syndrome
Physiologists define stress as how the body reacts to a stressor, real or imagined, a stimulus that causes stress. Acute stressors affect an organism in the short term; chronic stressors over the longer term.
Selye researched the effects of stress:
Alarm is the first stage. When the threat or stressor is identified or realized, the body's stress response is a state of alarm. During this stage adrenaline will be produced in order to bring about the fight-or-flight response. There is also some activation of the HPA axis, producing cortisol.
Resistance is the second stage. If the stressor persists, it becomes necessary to attempt some means of coping with the stress. Although the body begins to try to adapt to the strains or demands of the environment, the body cannot keep this up indefinitely, so its resources are gradually depleted.
Exhaustion is the third and final stage in the GAS model. At this point, all of the body's resources are eventually depleted and the body is unable to maintain normal function. The initial autonomic nervous system symptoms may reappear (sweating, raised heart rate etc.). If stage three is extended, long term damage may result as the body, and the immune system is exhausted and function is impaired resulting in decompensation.
The result can manifest itself in obvious illnesses such as ulcers, depression, diabetes, trouble with the digestive system or even cardiovascular problems, along with other mental illnesses.
This all makes very good sence. I have always been quite strong although I don't have much muscle mass.
I was totally hopeless at sport and couldn't cordinate myself in a team situation. As a result I was constantly targeted by bullys.
So everthing else I could do well I did in survival mode, as an attempt to offet my shortcomings, by trying to be the best I could.
Stress and exhaustion is a real problem for me now, as I am sure it is for most aspies. There are so many things that trigger stress responces for me that NTs don't even think about. I am quite burnt out right now and struggle so I think your post is very relivant.
I did a little research here some time ago and found that studys had proven that so called alphas, CEOS and other high ranking inividuals had extemly low cortisol levels. They also had no significantly blocked arterys. On the other hand people who were victomised or under constant stress
consistantly had high cortisol levels, and significant developing artery blockages. Cortisol can also reduce the bodys sensitivtly to leptin, adding to weight gain. As cortisol levels increase IQ temporarily decreases as the body begins shutting down non essencial systems.
Stress has been a magor problem for me, and I'm sure most aspies.
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I've always been a little on the frail side. I was athletic growing up (and still get an okay amount of exercise these days) and a healthy eater, so it's nothing to do with that. I just never had the strongest of constitutions.
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"A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it."
This is a secondary effect of dsypraxia which will discourage many of our kind from engaging in sports and thus becoming athletically toned. However there are some who become obsessed with fitness so weakness is not universal.
Dsypraxia will also result in decreased level of fighting ability as the ability to dodge/land blows will be compromised.
Took years. Like 30 yrs of training. Always the last pick in school. They used to line you up and team captains pick who is on their team. Took a long time to get over that message from school. School just did not offer the kind of exercise that was beneficial to me.
But after years of martial arts and boxing personal training, I went from the worst to unrecognizable from the early days. Multiple trainers noticed the lack of that ability and specifically drilled me on it. It is worth going after our weaknesses even if genetic.
My most recent trainer even works with anybody to optimize their abilities. One guy has severe cerebral palsy and you do not want to pick on him. His cane is lethal. He can barely walk.
If I can base my experience on my children, I wouldn't say people with Asperger's are weaker. Yes, my son's neurotypical brother, sister and cousins are often sportier than he is, but that's because he focuses on things that are interesting to him... and sport isn't. In fact, he has a cousin who isn't on the autism spectrum but is equally "weak" (I wish I had a word that didn't sound negative for this) because he has always been reading a lot and is now doing research.
In other words, autistic people aren't as strong as the others for some genetical reason, they are like that because they'd rather spend time reading, playing a video game or watching something than running, playing football or going to the gym.
I think we can be. The reason is that we deal with levels of stress much more intensely and much more frequently than most people and that added constant stress alone can very much weaken the immune system and the body. So indirectly, I think we can be. On the other hand, we are constantly dealing with very overwhelming situations all the time and some of us on a daily basis that most other people do not have to deal with. So in that regard, we can be stronger and more resilient because we have to be to survive. So I think it can go both ways.
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"I'm bad and that's good. I'll never be good and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me."
Wreck It Ralph
I've always been weak, uncoordinated, and unathletic. I used to walk a great deal and enjoyed it, but since I became crippled I don't even do that.
My immune system is good enough, and I think I have a backbone, figuratively speaking (strength of character or will). This goes some way to compensating for physical weakness.
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A finger in every pie.
ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,415
Location: Long Island, New York
Many autistics are uncoordinated which is not the same as weak. Many get so hyperfocused on thier special interests they do not get enough exercise.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
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