Fotogalerie Leg 2
Leg 2 - Kapstadt - Abu Dhabi
November 13, 2014
Team Alvimedica under the microscope
- Doctors to monitor sailors' health stats all race
- Click here to see the Team Alvimedica crew tested
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Video
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (Nov. 13) – Team Alvimedica’s crew is the focus of a landmark medical study to see how the Volvo Ocean Race impacts their hearts, metabolism, body strength and fitness over the event’s nine months at sea.
Using technology from the American space agency NASA, and doctors from leading academic institutions in the USA, Sweden and the UK, the study has been set up to increase understanding of how long-term stressful conditions can influence body functions and increase the risk of heart disease and other illnesses.
The study’s lead cardiology researcher, Dr Martin Ugander, of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, said the Race provided a unique environment for medical research.
“I don’t know of any more extreme model of stress in the world where humans are exposed to the combination of high-intensity and long duration stress by being on a sailboat working four-hour shifts over a period of a month and doing it over nearly nine months repeatedly,” he said.
“This gives us a unique opportunity to look at effects of that stress on the heart.”
Volvo Ocean Race sailors live in a confined space battling sleep deprivation, intense physical activity, the mental stress of racing against a fleet of competitors and a lack of fresh food for almost four weeks at a time during the 38, 739 nautical mile event.
“If our hypothesis is validated with this study, then that can have consequences for the general public – all of us experience stress in our daily lives,” Dr Ugander continued.
“If we find that the most extreme amounts of stress can affect the heart, then that is a first step towards determining what levels of physical and psychological stress are hazardous. Also, if the heart isn’t affected, then that is important information too.”
Alvimedica, the Turkey-based global medical devices company developing minimally invasive technologies including cardiovascular stents, hopes the study will unearth important facts around stress impacts on the heart and body.
The eight-strong crew, the youngest in the race, were given comprehensive tests before the first leg started in Alicante on Oct. 11 and will be examined immediately upon arriving at seven of the 10 ports up to the conclusion of the event in Gothenburg, Sweden on June 27, 2015.
While the complete findings will be published only after the race finishes, some immediate results will be applied to the team’s fitness, diet and recovery programs while the race is still underway.
Carmen Hidalgo - Picture desk and Photography Manager
images@volvooceanrace.com
Official Youtube channel - videos available for embed www.youtube.com/volvooceanracevideos
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