reserves of the human psyche. Interest energy. Self-healing - the hidden reserves of our body

The record in this area belongs to the Indians - representatives of the Tarahumara tribe. "Swift Foot" is the translation of the name of this tribe that lives in the Western Sierra Madre in Mexico. In the book of Yuri Shanin "From the Hellenes to the present day" (M., 1975), a case is described when one nineteen-year-old Tarahumara carried a forty-five-kilogram parcel over a distance of 120 km in 70 hours. His tribesman, carrying an important letter, covered a distance of 600 km in five days. A well-trained messenger is able to run at least a hundred kilometers in 12 hours and can run at this pace for four or even six days.

But the American Stan Cottrell ran 276 km 600 m in 24 hours without rest.

In the 70s. 19 Swiss doctor Felix Schenk set up such an experiment on himself. He didn't sleep for three days in a row. In the daytime, he continuously walked and did gymnastics. For two nights he made 30-kilometer crossings on foot at an average speed of 4 km / h, and one night he lifted a stone weighing 46 kg over his head 200 times. As a result, despite normal nutrition, he lost 2 kg in weight. The results of this experiment were presented by him in 1874 in a study on the effect of muscular work on protein breakdown.

Our contemporary E.M. Yashin preferred to conduct similar experiments every morning in the form of intense continuous physical exercise to the limit - a kind of 25-minute super aerobics. To it is added a Sunday run for 20 - 40 km, a one-time meal (vegetarian), 4 - 5 hours of sleep. Yashin's body weight with a 178-centimeter height is only 67 g. The pulse at rest immediately after waking up is 36 beats per minute.

So what about skiers? In 1980, the Finnish athlete Atti Nevala managed to ski a distance of 280 km 900 m within a day, and his compatriot Onni Savi holds the record of non-stop skiing for 48 hours. In 1966, he covered 305 during this time, 9 km.

More than two centuries ago, the speed skating marathon was born in Holland. In general, in this country, according to local residents, children first begin to skate, and then walk. Participants of the marathon overcome 200 km on skates without a break. In 1985, the 49-year-old Dutchman Jaan Kruitof set a record in this type of competition - 6 hours 5 minutes 17 seconds. Interestingly, in 1983, at the marathon run on the ice of Lake Memphremagon from the USA to Canada, a 200-kilometer distance was successfully run by a veteran of this sport, seventy-six-year-old A. Devries.

A trained person can swim just as long as he can run. For example, forty-three-year-old Argentinean Antonio Albertino swam the English Channel in both directions without stopping. Overcoming strong currents, he actually traveled about 150 km (the width of the strait is 35 km) and was continuously in the water for 43 hours and 4 minutes.

However, this distance was far from the greatest for swimmers. 67-year-old Walter Penisch from the USA managed to swim 167 km from Havana to Florida, and his compatriot New York policeman Ben Haggard obeyed even 221 km - the distance between the USA and the Bahamas. The record for the longest swim in the ocean belongs to the American Stella Taylor - 321 km!

There are also curious examples of a kind of human super-endurance. In 1951, one enthusiast managed to walk 25 km in 4 hours without stopping ... backwards! And in the competition of talkers, a certain Shikhin, originally from Ireland, did not close his mouth for as long as 133 hours.

In our country in 1980, during the World Olympiad, Yuri Shumitsky completed a hiking trip along the route Vladivostok - Moscow. During the year, he walked 12 thousand km. But A.R. Ivanenko, who was disabled at the age of 30, at the age of 64 managed to run the distance from Leningrad to Magadan with a length of 11,783 km in a year!

In 1986, forty-year-old French doctor Jean-Louis Etienne skied alone in less than 2 months over a distance of 1200 km from the coast of Canada to the North Pole. On his way, the brave traveler had to overcome the ice broken from a collision with the shore with a lot of crevices, and a 52-degree cold, and, finally, a feeling of complete loneliness. Twice he fell into ice water, lost 8 kg in weight, but achieved his goal.

There is a known case when a rickshaw drove a man weighing 54 kg in 14.5 hours from Tokyo to the town of Nikko, located in the mountains 100 km from the Japanese capital.

Finally, it is impossible not to mention a special kind of triathlon, known as the "Iron Man". Another such supertournament took place in the Hawaiian Islands. The first step is swimming. The 4 km distance along the Waikiki River consists of two parts: 2 km - downstream, the second half - against. We got out of the water - and immediately into the saddle of a bicycle. 180 km in tropical heat is a serious matter, but there is still the third stage ahead - running the classic marathon distance of 42 km 195 m. It is interesting that the winners of such an unusual triathlon manage to overcome the exhausting track in 9 hours.

In literature, Philippides, the best runner of the ancient Greek army, who ran in 490 BC, is often remembered. distance from Marathon to Athens (42 km 195 m), to report the victory of the Greeks over the Persians, and immediately died. According to other sources, before the battle, Philippides "ran" through a mountain pass to Sparta in order to enlist the help of the allies, and at the same time ran over 200 km in two days. Considering that after such a "jog" the messenger took part in the famous battle on the Marathon Plain, then one can only be surprised at the endurance of this person. Here are some interesting examples demonstrating the huge reserve possibilities for turning a person from a seriously ill person into a marathon runner with the help of running.

Nikolai Ivanovich Zolotov. Born in 1894. In 1945 he retired suffering from heart failure, severe spinal contusion and many other serious ailments. But Zolotov decided that living out his life sitting on a bench is not for him, and began to "create himself anew." Overcoming acute pain in the spine, instead of two or three jumps on poorly bending legs, through systematic training, he learned to do 5,000 jumps on each leg without any tension. Then he began to run regularly, was a participant in many competitions, crosses, races, including a marathon. In the traditional race along the Pushkin - Leningrad track in 1978, he won his fifth gold medal.

47-year-old docker from Petropavlovsk-on-Kamchatka, Valentin Shchelchkov, 5 years after a myocardial infarction and a two-month hospitalization associated with it, ran a marathon distance in 2 hours and 54 minutes at the international peace marathon in Moscow.

In 1983, a 100 km race took place in Odessa. Vitaliy Kovel, a teacher of biology and singing from Terskol, won the race in 6 hours 26 minutes and 26 seconds. There were other winners in the race who defeated themselves: Yu. Berlin, A. Sotnikov, I. Makarov ... They had to run continuously for 10 - 15 hours, but they were already over 60 years old! Two of them had angina pectoris in the past and were overweight from 13 to 20 kg.

In another 100-kilometer race, fifty-five-year-old A. Bandrovsky from Kaluga, who suffered from angina pectoris and a whole bunch of diseases of the vessels and gastrointestinal tract in the past, ran this distance in 12.5 hours. Sixty-year-old N. Golshev from Ulyanovsk took only 10 hours and 5 minutes to overcome the 100-kilometer distance in continuous running, and in the past he suffered from osteochondrosis with a sharp impairment of joint mobility. In addition to jogging, Golshev was helped to get rid of this ailment by training in volitional breath-holding, the transition to a vegetarian diet and hardening of the body, brought to the "winter swimming".

In 1973 in the Hawaiian Islands, a kind of marathon race was organized. Its participants were exclusively persons who had suffered a myocardial infarction in the breach. However, there were no accidents during the race.

A person can run a marathon distance both in childhood and in old age. For example, someone Wesley Paul ran a marathon in 4 hours and 4 minutes at the age of 7, and two years later he improved his result by an hour. G.V. On the day of his 70th birthday, Tchaikovsky spent 3 hours 12 minutes and 40 seconds on the marathon. The age record, excluding time, belongs to the Greek Dimitar Jordanis. At 98, he ran a marathon in 7 hours and 40 minutes.

The once-famous English athlete Joe Deakine, whom journalists have long dubbed the "grandfather of running", in his 90-odd years, ran about 7 km every Sunday.

Even more surprising is the athletic longevity of American Larry Lewis. At 102, he ran 10 km every morning. The distance of 100 yards (91 m) Larry Lewis covered in 17.3 seconds (0.5 seconds faster than in 101 years).

Some fans of marathon running are not hindered even by serious injuries. For example, American runner Dick Traum continued to compete in marathons after surgeons amputated his leg, injured in a car accident, above the knee. He ran after that on a prosthesis. 42-year-old Werner Rachter from Germany, being completely blind, showed an excellent time at the marathon distance - 2 hours 36 minutes 15 seconds.

The body's resistance to cold largely depends on whether a person regularly engages in cold hardening. This is confirmed by the results of forensic experts who studied the causes and consequences of shipwrecks that occurred in the icy waters of the seas and oceans. Unseasoned passengers, even in the presence of life-saving equipment, died from hypothermia in icy water in the first half hour. At the same time, cases were recorded when individual people struggled for life with the piercing cold of icy waters for several hours.

According to Canadian physiologists who studied the problem of a person in cold water, lethal cooling should occur no earlier than after 60 - 90 minutes. The cause of death may be a kind of cold shock that develops after immersion in water, or respiratory dysfunction caused by massive irritation of cold receptors, or cardiac arrest.

So the pilot Smagin, who catapulted over the White Sea, was in water for 7 hours, the temperature of which was only 6 ° C.

During the Great Patriotic War, Soviet sergeant Pyotr Golubev swam 20 km in icy water in 9 hours and successfully completed a combat mission.

On August 9, 1987, she crossed in 2 hours and 6 minutes the four-kilometer strait separating the islands of Small and Big Diomede at a water temperature of 6°C.

In 1985, an English fisherman demonstrated an amazing ability to survive in icy water. All his comrades died of hypothermia 10 minutes after the shipwreck. He swam in the icy water for more than 5 hours, and when he reached the ground, he walked barefoot along the frozen lifeless shore for about 3 hours.

A person can swim in icy water even in very severe frost. At one of the winter swimming holidays in Moscow, Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant-General G. E. Alpaidze, who was hosting the parade of its participants, said: “I have been experiencing the healing power of cold water for 18 years now. while serving in the North, he did this even at an air temperature of -43 ° C. I am sure that swimming in frosty weather is the highest stage of hardening the body. One cannot but agree with Suvorov, who said that "ice water is good for the body and mind."

In 1986, Nedelya reported on Boris Iosifovich Soskin, a 95-year-old "walrus" from Evpatoria. Radiculitis pushed him into the hole at the age of 70. After all, properly selected doses of cold can mobilize a person's reserve capabilities.

Until quite recently, it was believed that if a drowned person is not pulled out of the water within 5-6 minutes, he will inevitably die as a result of irreversible pathological changes in the neurons of the cerebral cortex associated with acute oxygen deficiency *. However, in cold water this time can be much longer. So, for example, in the state of Michigan, a case was recorded when 18-year-old student Brian Cunningham fell through the ice of a frozen lake and was removed from there only after 38 minutes. He was brought back to life by artificial respiration with pure oxygen. Earlier, a similar case was registered in Norway. Five-year-old boy Vegard Slettumuen from the city of Lillestrom fell through the ice of the river. After 40 minutes, the lifeless body was pulled ashore, they began to do artificial respiration and heart massage. Soon there were signs of life. Two days later, consciousness returned to the boy, and he asked: "Where are my glasses?"

Such incidents with children are not such a rarity. In 1984, four-year-old Jimmy Tontlevitz fell through the ice of Lake Michigan. For 20 minutes of being in ice water, his body cooled to 27 ° C. However, after 1.5 hours of resuscitation, the boy was brought back to life. Three years later, seven-year-old Vita Bludnitsky from the Grodno region had to stay under the ice for half an hour. After a thirty-minute heart massage and artificial respiration, the first breath was recorded. Another case. In January 1987, a two-year-old boy and a four-month-old girl, having fallen into the Norwegian fiord to a depth of 10 meters, were also brought back to life after a quarter of an hour of being under water.

In April 1975, 60-year-old American biologist Warren Churchill was counting fish on a lake covered with floating ice. His boat capsized, and he was forced to stay in cold water at a temperature of +5 ° C for 1.5 hours. By the time the doctors arrived, Churchill was no longer breathing, he was all blue. His heart was barely audible, and the temperature of the internal organs dropped to 16°C. However, this man survived.

An important discovery was made in our country by Professor A.S. Konikova. In experiments on rabbits, she found that if the body of an animal is quickly cooled no later than 10 minutes after the onset of death, then after an hour it can be successfully revived. Probably, this is precisely what can explain the amazing cases of reviving people after a long stay in cold water.

In the literature, there are often sensational reports of human survival after a long stay under a block of ice or snow. It is hard to believe in this, but a person is still able to endure a short-term hypothermia.

A good example of this is the case that happened to the well-known, which in 1928 - 1931. traveled alone on a bicycle along the borders of the Soviet Union (including the ice of the Arctic Ocean). In the early spring of 1930, he settled down for the night as usual, right on the ice, using ordinary snow instead of a sleeping bag. At night, a crack formed in the ice near his lodging for the night, and the snow that covered the brave traveler turned into an ice shell. Leaving in the ice part of the clothes frozen to him, G.L. Travin, with frozen hair and an "ice hump" on his back, reached the nearest Nenets tent. A few days later he continued his bicycle journey through the ice of the Arctic Ocean.

It has been repeatedly noted that a freezing person can fall into oblivion, during which it seems to him that he found himself in a very heated room, in a hot desert, etc. In a semi-conscious state, he can throw off his felt boots, outerwear and even underwear. There was a case when a criminal case of robbery and murder was initiated regarding a frozen person who was found naked. But the investigator found that the victim undressed himself.

But what an extraordinary story happened in Japan with the driver of the refrigerated car Masaru Saito. On a hot day, he decided to rest in the back of his refrigerator. In the same body were blocks of "dry ice", which are frozen carbon dioxide. The door of the van slammed shut, and the driver was left alone with the cold (-10°C) and the rapidly rising concentration of CO2 as a result of the evaporation of "dry ice". It was not possible to establish the exact time during which the driver was in these conditions. In any case, when he was pulled out of the body, he was already frozen, nevertheless, after a few hours, the victim was revived in the nearest hospital.

At the time of the onset of clinical death of a person from hypothermia, the temperature of his internal organs usually drops to 26 - 24 ° C. But there are known exceptions to this rule.

In February 1951, a 23-year-old black woman was brought to the hospital in the American city of Chicago, who, in very light clothing, lay for 11 hours in the snow with air temperature fluctuating from -18 to -26 ° C. The temperature of her internal organs at the time of admission to the hospital was 18°C. Even surgeons very rarely decide to cool a person to such a low temperature during complex operations, because it is considered the limit below which irreversible changes in the cerebral cortex can occur.

First of all, doctors were surprised by the fact that with such a pronounced cooling of the body, the woman was still breathing, although rarely (3-5 breaths per 1 minute). Her pulse was also very rare (12-20 beats per minute), irregular (pauses between heartbeats reached 8 s). The victim managed to save her life. True, her frostbitten feet and fingers were amputated.

Somewhat later, a similar case was registered in our country. On a frosty March morning in 1960, a frozen man was taken to one of the hospitals in the Aktobe region, found by workers at a construction site on the outskirts of the village. During the first medical examination of the victim, the protocol recorded: “A stiff body in icy clothes, without a headdress and shoes. The limbs are bent in the compositions and it is not possible to straighten them. below 0 ° C. The eyes are wide open, the eyelids are covered with an icy edge, the pupils are dilated, cloudy, there is an ice crust on the sclera and iris. Signs of life - heartbeat and respiration - are not determined. Diagnosis was made: general freezing, clinical death. "

It is difficult to say what motivated the doctor P.A. Abrahamyan - either professional intuition, or professional unwillingness to come to terms with death, but he nevertheless placed the victim in a hot bath. When the body was freed from the ice cover, a special complex of resuscitation measures began. After 1.5 hours, weak breathing and a barely perceptible pulse appeared. By the evening of the same day the patient regained consciousness.

Let's take another interesting example. In 1987, in Mongolia, the child of M. Munkhzai lay for 12 hours in a field in 34-degree frost. His body was stiff. However, after half an hour of resuscitation, a barely distinguishable pulse appeared (2 beats per 1 minute). A day later he moved his hands, after two he woke up, and a week later he was discharged with the conclusion: "There are no pathological changes."

At the heart of such an amazing phenomenon lies the ability of the body to respond to cooling without triggering the mechanism of muscle trembling. The fact is that the inclusion of this mechanism, designed to maintain a constant body temperature under cooling conditions at any cost, leads to the "burning" of the main energy materials - fats and carbohydrates. Obviously, it is more beneficial for the body not to fight a few degrees, but to slow down and synchronize the processes of life, to make a temporary retreat to the 30-degree mark - thus, strength is preserved in the subsequent struggle for life.

There are cases when people with a body temperature of 32 - 28 ° C were able to walk and talk. The preservation of consciousness in chilled people at a body temperature of 30 - 26°C and meaningful speech even at 24°C has been registered.

A person can endure martial arts with a 50-degree frost, almost without resorting to warm clothes. It was this possibility that was demonstrated in 1983 by a group of climbers after climbing to the top of Elbrus. Wearing only swimming trunks, socks, mittens and masks, they spent half an hour in a thermal vacuum chamber - in a severe cold and rarefied atmosphere, corresponding to the height of the peak of Communism. The first 1 - 2 minutes of 50-degree frost was quite bearable. Then a strong shiver began to beat from the cold. There was a feeling that the body was covered with an ice shell. In half an hour it cooled almost a degree.

By cooling the fingers due to the narrowing of the capillaries, the thermal insulating properties of the skin can be increased by 6 times. But the capillaries of the skin of the head (with the exception of the front part) do not have the ability to narrow under the influence of cold. Therefore, at a temperature of -4°C, about half of the total heat produced by the body at rest is lost through the cooled head, if it is not covered. But immersing the head in ice water for more than 10 seconds in untrained people can cause a spasm of blood vessels that feed the brain.

All the more surprising is the incident that occurred in the winter of 1980 in the village of Novaya Tura (Tatar ASSR). In 29-degree frost, 11-year-old Vladimir Pavlov without hesitation dived into the wormwood of the lake. He did this in order to save a four-year-old boy who had gone under the ice. And he saved him, although for this he had to dive under the ice three times to a depth of 2 m.

In recent years, speed swimming competitions in ice water have become increasingly popular. In our country, such competitions are held in two age groups at distances of 25 and 50 m. For example, 37-year-old Muscovite Evgeny Oreshkin became the winner of one of the competitions of this type, who swam a 25-meter distance in icy water in 12.2 s. In Czechoslovakia winter swimming competitions are held at distances of 100, 250 and 500 m.

"Walruses", of course, are hardened people. But their resistance to cold is far from the limit of human capabilities. The aborigines of the central part of Australia and Tierra del Fuego (South America), as well as the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert (South Africa) have even greater immunity to cold.

The high resistance to cold of the indigenous inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego was observed by Charles Darwin during his journey on the Beagle ship. He was surprised that completely naked women and children did not pay any attention to the thickly falling snow that melted on their bodies.

In 1958 - 1959 American physiologists studied the resistance to cold of the natives of the central part of Australia. It turned out that they sleep quite calmly at an air temperature of 5 - 0 ° C naked on the bare ground between fires, sleep without the slightest sign of trembling and increased gas exchange. At the same time, the body temperature of the Australians remains normal, but the skin temperature drops to 15 ° C on the trunk, and even up to 10 ° C on the limbs. With such a pronounced decrease in skin temperature, ordinary people would experience almost unbearable pain, and Australians sleep peacefully and feel neither pain nor cold.

Doctor L.I. lives in Moscow. Krasov. This man received a severe injury - a fracture in the lumbar region. As a result, atrophy of the gluteal muscles, paralysis of both legs. His surgeon friends patched him up as best they could, but they did not hope that he would survive. And he "in spite of all deaths" restored the damaged spinal cord. The main role, he believes, was played by the combination of cold hardening with dosed starvation. Of course, all this would hardly have helped if this man had not had extraordinary willpower.

What is willpower? In fact, this is not always conscious, but very strong self-hypnosis.

Self-hypnosis also plays an important role in the cold hardening of one of the nationalities living in the mountainous regions of Nepal and Tibet. In 1963, a case of extreme resistance to cold was described by a 35-year-old mountaineer named Man Bahadur, who spent four days on a high-mountain glacier (5 - 5, 3 thousand m) at an air temperature of minus 13 - 15 ° C barefoot, in a bad clothes, no food. Almost no significant impairments were found in him. Studies have shown that with the help of self-hypnosis, he could increase his energy exchange in the cold by 33 - 50% by "non-contractile" thermogenesis, i.e. without any manifestations of "cold tone" and muscle trembling. This ability saved him from hypothermia and frostbite.

But perhaps the most surprising is the observation of the famous Tibetan researcher Alexandra David-Nel. In her book "Magicians and Mystics of Tibet", she described the competition, which is held near the holes cut into the people of an alpine lake, bare-chested yogis-respas. Frost is below 30°, but steam is pouring from respawns. And no wonder - they compete, how many sheets pulled out of the icy water, each will dry on his own back. To do this, they cause a state in their body when almost all the energy of vital activity is spent on generating heat. Respawns have certain criteria for assessing the degree of control of the thermal energy of their body. The student sits down in the lotus position in the snow, slows down his breathing (at the same time, as a result of the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the blood, the superficial blood vessels expand and the body's heat transfer increases) and imagines that a flame is flaring up along his spine. At this time, the amount of snow that has melted under the seated person and the radius of melting around him are determined.

Cold can contribute to longevity It is not by chance that the third place in the percentage of centenarians (after Dagestan and Abkhazia) is occupied by the center of longevity in Siberia - the Oymyakon region of Yakutia, where frosts sometimes reach 60 - 70 ° C. Residents of another center of longevity - the Hunza Valley in Pakistan bathe in icy water even in winter at 15-degree frost. They are very frost-resistant and only heat their stoves in order to cook food. The rejuvenating effect of cold against the background of rational nutrition is reflected there primarily on women. At the age of 40, they are considered still young, almost like our girls, at 50-60 years old they retain their slim and graceful figure, at 65 they can give birth to children.

Some nationalities have traditions to accustom the body to the cold from infancy. “The Yakuts,” wrote the Russian academician I.R. Tarkhanov at the end of the 19th century in his book “On the Hardening of the Human Body”, rub their newborns with snow, and the Ostyaks, like the Tungus, immerse babies in the snow, douse them with ice water and then wrap them in deer skins.

What perfection and endurance can be achieved with cold hardening is evidenced by observations during one of the last American-New Zealand expeditions in the Himalayas. Some of the Sherpa guides made a many-kilometer journey along rocky mountain paths, through the zone of eternal snow ... barefoot. And this is in 20-degree frost!

Foreign scientists conducted special experiments to determine the highest temperature that the human body can withstand in dry air. An ordinary person can withstand a temperature of 71 ° C for 1 hour, 82 ° C - 49 minutes, 93 ° C - 33 minutes, and 104 ° C - only 26 minutes.

However, seemingly improbable cases are also described in the literature. Back in 1764, the French scientist Tillet reported to the Paris Academy of Sciences that one woman was in an oven at a temperature of 132 ° C for 12 minutes.

In 1828, a case was described of a man staying in a furnace for 14 minutes, where the temperature reached 170°C. The English physicists Blagden and Chantry, as part of an autoexperiment, were in a bakery oven at a temperature of 160°C. In Belgium, in 1958, a case was registered of a person tolerating a 5-minute stay in a heat chamber at a temperature of 200°C.

Studies in a heat chamber conducted in the United States have shown that a person's body temperature during such a test can rise to 40.3 ° C, while the body is dehydrated by 10%. The body temperature of the dogs was brought even up to 42°C. A further increase in the body temperature of animals (up to 42.8 ° C) was already fatal for them ...

However, in infectious diseases accompanied by fever, some people are able to tolerate even higher body temperature. For example, an American student from Brooklyn, Sophia Sapola, had a body temperature of over 43°C during brucellosis.

When a person stays in hot water, the possibility of heat transfer by evaporation of sweat is excluded. Therefore, the tolerance of high temperatures in the aquatic environment is much lower than in dry air. "The record in this area probably belongs to one Turk, who, like Ivan Tsarevich, could plunge headlong into a cauldron of water at a temperature of + 70 ° C. Of course, long and constant training is necessary to achieve such" records ".

During the Great Patriotic War, in July 1942, four Soviet sailors found themselves in a boat far from the coast in the Black Sea without water and food supplies. On the third day of their voyage, they began to taste the sea water. In the Black Sea, the water is 2 times less salty than in the World Ocean. Nevertheless, sailors were able to get used to its use only on the fifth day. Everyone now drank up to two flasks of it a day. So they, it would seem, got out of the situation with water. But they could not solve the problem of food supply. One of them died of starvation on the 19th day, the second on the 24th, and the third on the 30th day. The last of this four is the captain of the medical service P.I. Yeresko - on the 36th day of fasting in a state of obscured consciousness was picked up by a Soviet military vessel. For 36 days of sea wandering without eating, he lost 22 kg in weight, which was 32% of his original weight.

For comparison, let us recall that even with voluntary fasting in a calm environment, even in 50 days, a person, according to various authors, loses from 27 to 30% of weight, i.e. less than in the above example.

In January 1960, a self-propelled barge with four Soviet servicemen (A. Ziganshin, F. Poplavsky, A. Kryuchkovsky, and Fedotov) was blown into the Pacific by a storm. On the second day, the barge ran out of fuel and the radio went out of order. After 37 days, a very meager supply of food ran out. It was replaced by roasted harmonica leather and boots. The daily norm of fresh water was at first 5, and then only 3 sips per person. However, this amount was enough to last 49 days until the moment of salvation.

In 1984, 52-year-old Paulus Normantas had to live alone on a desert island in the Aral Sea for 55 days because his boat had sailed away. It was in March. The food supply was: half a loaf of bread, 15 g of tea, 22 lumps of sugar and 6 onions. Fortunately, spring floods bring a lot of fresh water into the sea, which is lighter than salt water and floats on the surface. Therefore, he was not thirsty. Eggs of seagulls, turtles and even fish (thanks to hunting with an underwater gun), young grasses went to food. When the water in the sea warmed up to +16°C in May, Normantas covered a distance of 20 km in 4 days, resting on 16 intermediate islands, and safely reached the shore without outside help.

Another case of prolonged forced starvation. In the winter of 1963, a private plane crashed in a mountainous desert region in Canada. Its crew consisted of two people: 42-year-old pilot Ralph Florez and 21-year-old student Helena Klaben. The plane landed successfully, but it was completely unrealistic to get to the nearest settlement through hundreds of kilometers of snowy desert. All that remained was to wait for help, to wait and fight against the bone-piercing frost and hunger. There was some food on the plane, but it ran out after a week, and after 20 days this couple ate their last "food" - 2 tubes of toothpaste. Melted snow became their only dish for breakfast, lunch and dinner. “For the next weeks,” Helen Klaben later explained, “we lived on the water. We had it in three forms: cold, hot and boiled. The alternation helped brighten up the monotony of the menu of the only “snow dish.” Miss Klaben, who was “pretty fat woman" at the time of the accident, after severe trials, she lost 12 kg in weight. Ralph Florez lost 16 kg. They were rescued on March 25, 1963, 49 days after the accident.

An unusual case of voluntary fasting was registered in Odessa. To the specialized department of unloading and dietary therapy of one of the hospitals, to the doctor V.Ya. An extremely emaciated woman was delivered to Davydov. It turned out that she starved for three months ... with the intent of suicide, losing 60% of her weight during this time. An experienced doctor managed to restore the love of life to the woman and, with the help of a special diet, restore her previous weight.

The fact that a person can go without food for a very long time is also evidenced by the case of a "hunger strike" recorded more than half a century ago in the Irish city of Cork. A group of 11 Irish patriots, led by the mayor of Cork, Lord Terence McSweeney, who are in prison, decided to starve themselves to death in protest against British rule in their country. Day after day, the newspapers carried news from the prison, and on the 20th day they began to claim that the prisoners were dying, that the priest had already been sent for, the relatives of the prisoners had gathered at the gates of the prison. Such messages were transmitted on the 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th and 70th day. In fact, the first prisoner (McSweeney) died on the 74th day, the second - on the 88th day, the remaining nine people on the 94th day gave up hunger, gradually recovered and remained alive.

An even longer fast (119 days) was recorded by American doctors in Los Angeles: they observed obese Elaine Jones, who weighed 143 kg. Every day during fasting, she drank 3 liters of water. In addition, twice a week she was given a vitamin injection. The patient's weight dropped to 81 kg in 17 weeks and she felt great.

Finally, in 1973, the seemingly fantastic periods of fasting for two women, registered in one of the medical institutions in Glasgow, were described. Both of them had a weight of more than 100 kg, and to normalize it, one had to starve for 236 days, and the other as much as 249 days (a world record!)

American dietitian Paul Bragg in 1967 in his book "The Miracle of Fasting" described the pedestrian transition, which he made in old age in California's Death Valley. In the heat of July, for 2 days of fasting, he walked through the desert 30 miles, spent the night in a tent and returned hungry the same way. But the 10 strong young athletes who competed with him these days, who ate and drank whatever they wanted (including chilled drinks and salt tablets), could not go even 25 miles. And no wonder. After all, when everyone went camping, the heat was 40.6, and at noon - even 50.4 ° C.

In 1982 - 1983 Within 8 months, 6 brave northern explorers crossed the Arctic outskirts of our country with a length of 10,000 km. In the last two weeks of this unprecedented trip, two of its participants voluntarily starved (drank only rosehip broth with multivitamins). During the fasting period, they lost 4.5 kg in weight.

In 1984, a group of volunteers led by Genrikh Ryzhavsky and Candidate of Medical Sciences Valery Gurvich made a 15-day "emergency" kayak trip along the Belaya River. They went out without food and did not eat anything but water. They had to work with oars for 6-8 hours a day. All participants successfully passed this test, although the oldest of them was 57 years old. A year earlier, another group of enthusiasts made a similar two-week "hungry" rafting trip across the Caspian Sea.

But the Moscow geologist S. A. Borodin, thanks to training in running against the background of frequent hunger strikes, on the 5th day of fasting ran a 10-kilometer cross with the same maximum speed as in the "well-fed" period.

Speaking about the "records" of starvation in the animal kingdom, one cannot fail to mention a new type of spider discovered in India. This spider differs from all living creatures in that it can go without food for as long as 18 (!) Years.

At one of the traditional holidays in Rouen (France), the participants in the glutton competition in a short time managed to absorb each: 1 kg 200 g of boiled chicken, 1 kg 300 g of roast lamb, a head of livaro cheese, an apple cake, two bottles of Alsatian wine, four bottles of cider and two bottles of Burgundy wine.

In 1910, an American from Pennsylvania was considered the first glutton in the world. He ate 144 eggs for breakfast. But his compatriots - the champions of obesity, twin brothers Billy and Benny McGuire - preferred the following daily breakfast: 18 eggs, 2 kg of bacon or ham, a loaf of bread, 1 liter of fruit juice, 16 cups of coffee; for lunch they ate 3 kg of steak, 1 kg of potatoes, a loaf of bread, drank 2 liters of tea; dinner consisted of 3 kg of vegetables and fish, 6 baked potatoes, 5 servings of salad, 2 li teas, 8 cups of coffee. And no wonder that Billy weighed 315 kg, and Benny - as much as 327 kg.

At the age of 32, the fattest man in the world, American Robert Earl Hudges, died of a myocardial infarction. With a height of 180 cm, he had a weight of 483 kg and a waist circumference of 3 m.

Probably the same fate awaited the 250-pound British citizen Rolly McIntrire. However, he disposed of his fate differently: by switching to a vegetarian diet in 1985, he lost 161 kg!

Another way to lose weight was suggested by the famous Greek pop singer Demis Roussos. Using his personal example, he showed that if you give preference to only one product during meals and do not abuse potatoes and flour products, then in one year you can reduce body weight from 148 to 95 kg.

Studies conducted by the American physiologist E.F. Adolf showed that the maximum duration of a person's stay without water largely depends on the ambient temperature and the mode of physical activity. So, for example, being at rest in the shade, at a temperature of 16 - 23 ° C, a person can not drink for 10 days. At an air temperature of 26°C, this period is reduced to 9 days, at 29°C - up to 7, at 33°C - up to 5, at 36°C - up to 3 days. Finally, at an air temperature of 39 ° C at rest, a person can not drink for no more than 2 days.

Of course, with physical work, all these indicators are significantly reduced. It is known from history, for example, that in 525, when crossing the Libyan desert, the fifty-thousandth army of the Persian king Cambyses died of thirst.

After the earthquake in Mexico City in 1985, a 9-year-old boy was found under the rubble of a building, who had not eaten or drunk anything for 13 days and yet survived.

Even earlier, in February 1947, a 53-year-old man was found in the city of Frunze, who, having received a head injury, had been without food and water for 20 days in an abandoned unheated room. At the moment of discovery, he did not show breathing and did not feel a pulse. The only sign indicating the preservation of the life of the victim was a change in the color of the nail bed when pressed. And the next day he could talk.

Is it possible to drink salty sea water without harm to the body? Yes, you can. This was experimentally confirmed, which, crossing the Atlantic Ocean alone in an inflatable rubber boat, did not take fresh water supplies with it. He found that salty sea water can be drunk, but in small portions, no more than 1 liter per day, and no more than 7 - 8 days in a row. When using sea water, up to the tragic denouement, i.e. until the 7th - 8th day, the "scapegoat" is the kidneys, and as long as they are able to do their job of "desalination" of water, the person retains consciousness and efficiency. But during this time you can use fresh rainwater, morning dew or catch fish and quench your thirst with fresh tissue juice. This is exactly what Alain Bombard did on her solitary journey across the Atlantic. Just two days of drinking fresh water is enough for the kidneys to “recover themselves” again and be ready for “desalination” work again if you have to drink sea water again.

In 1986, 45-year-old Norwegian E. Einarsen, remained for four months alone with the Atlantic Ocean, being on an uncontrolled small fishing motorboat. The last three weeks, left without food supplies and drinking water, the sailor ate raw fish and washed it down with rainwater.

Back in 1942, the steward of the English steamer Poon Limy had to face a similar problem. When his ship sank in the Atlantic, the sailor escaped on a boat and spent 4.5 months on the high seas.

If you tried to hold your breath while inhaling or exhaling, then you probably made sure that you can do without air for two or three minutes at best. True, this time can be increased if, before holding the breath, breathe deeply and often, especially with pure oxygen.

After such a procedure, Californian Robert Foster managed to stay underwater for 13 minutes 42.5 seconds without scuba gear. If you believe the report of the English traveler Gorer Jeffrey, then some divers from the Wolf tribe in Senegal are able to stay under water for up to half an hour. They are even called "water people".

American physiologist E.S. Schneider in 1930 observed two pilots, one of whom, after preliminary breathing with pure oxygen, could hold his breath for 14 minutes 2 seconds, and the other - 15 minutes 13 seconds. The pilots endured the first 5-6 minutes of holding their breath freely. In the following minutes, they experienced an increase in heart rate and a significant increase in blood pressure to 180/110 - 195/140 mm Hg. Art., while before holding the breath it was 124/88 - 130/90 mm.

What reserves does the physical strength of the human body have? This can be judged at least on the basis of the achievements of famous strong men - athletes and wrestlers, who shook the imagination of contemporaries with their power tricks. One of them is the champion of Russia in weight lifting.

Ivan Mikhailovich Zaikin (1880-1949), famous Russian athlete, wrestler, one of the first Russian pilots. Zaikin's athletic numbers caused a sensation. Foreign newspapers wrote: "Zaikin is Chaliapin of Russian muscles." In 1908 Zaikin toured in Paris. After the athlete's performance in front of the circus, on a special platform, the chains torn by Zaikin, an iron beam bent on his shoulders, "bracelets" and "ties" tied by him from strip iron were exhibited. Some of these exhibits were acquired by the Parisian Cabinet of Curiosities and were displayed along with other curiosities.

Zaikin carried a 25-pound anchor on his shoulders, lifted a long barbell on his shoulders, on which ten people sat, and began to rotate it ("live carousel"). He fought, yielding in this area, perhaps to Ivan Poddubny himself.

Multiple world wrestling champion Ivan Poddubny ("champion of champions", 1871 - 1949) had great physical strength. It should be noted that he left the wrestling mat at the age of 70. Without training specifically in athletic numbers, he could, bending his arms lowered along the body, lift 120 kg for biceps!

But even greater physical strength, according to his own statement, was possessed by his father, Maxim Poddubny: he easily took two five-pound bags on his shoulders, lifted a whole heap of hay with a pitchfork, indulging in, stopped any cart, grabbing it by the wheel, knocked down to the ground by the horns of hefty bulls.

The younger brother of Ivan Poddubny Mitrofan was also strong, who somehow pulled an ox weighing 18 pounds from a pit, and once in Tula amused the audience, holding a platform with an orchestra on his shoulders, which played "Many years ...".

Another Russian hero, the athlete Yakub Chekhovskaya, in 1913 in Petrograd carried 6 soldiers in a circle on one arm. A platform was installed on his chest, along which three trucks with the public drove.

For several decades, the name of the Russian athlete Alexander Ivanovich Zass, who performed under the pseudonym Samson, did not leave the circus posters of different countries. What only power numbers were not in his repertoire! With his own weight of no more than 80 kg, he carried a horse weighing up to 400 kg on his shoulders. He lifted with his teeth an iron beam weighing 135 kg, at the ends of which two assistants sat, a total of 265 kg, caught a 90-kg cannonball flying out of a circus cannon from a distance of 8 m, lay bare back on a board studded with nails, holding a stone (500 kg). For fun, he could lift a taxi and drive the car like a wheelbarrow, broke horseshoes and tore chains. Lifted 20 people on the platform. In the famous attraction "Projectile Man" he caught an assistant who, like an artillery shell, flew out of the muzzle of a circus cannon and described a 12-meter trajectory over the arena. He was run over by a truck. Here's how it was:

It happened in 1938 in the English city of Sheffield. Before the eyes of the assembled crowd, a truck loaded with coal drove over a man sprawled on a cobblestone pavement. People screamed in horror as the front and then the rear ears ran over the body. But in the next second, an exclamation of delight was heard from the crowd: "Hurrah for Samson!", "Glory to the Russian Samson!" And the man to whom this storm of jubilation belonged, getting up from under the wheels, as if nothing had happened, smiling, bowed to the audience.

Here is an excerpt from the poster of Samson, who spoke in England: "Samson is offering 25 pounds to the one who knocks him down with a punch to the stomach. Professional boxers are allowed to take part. ... A prize of 5 pounds sterling is given to the one who bends the horseshoe iron rod" . By the way, the famous English boxer Tom Burns, who tried his strength during Samson's performance, broke his hand on his stomach. And the iron rod in question was a square rod approximately 1.3x1.3x26 cm.

In July 1907, the Ukrainian hero, circus wrestler Terenty Koren gave an unusual performance in the circus arena of the American city of Chicago. He calmly entered the cage with the huge lion. The predator quickly rushed at the man. The claws and fangs of the "king of beasts" dug into the athlete's body. But Terenty Root, overcoming inhuman pain, with a powerful jerk lifted the lion over his head and threw it on the sand with great force. A few seconds later, the lion was dead, and Terenty Koren won the only award of its kind: a large gold medal with the inscription "To the winner of the lions."

World record holder Russian athlete Sergey Eliseev took a weight of 61 kg in his right hand, lifted it up, then slowly lowered it to the side on a straight arm and held the hand with the weight in a horizontal position for several seconds. Three times in a row he pulled out two unbound two-pound weights with one hand.

Not only people of the common class, but also many outstanding figures of Russian culture and art - A. Kuprin, F. Chaliapin, A. Blok, A. Chekhov, the artist I. Myasoedov, V. Gilyarovsky and others - were passionate admirers of circus athletes and wrestlers, moreover, many of them themselves went in for sports enthusiastically.

Kuprin often judged wrestling competitions and was his man in the circus. Gilyarovsky, an athletically developed person, liked to demonstrate power numbers among friends (he bent coins with his fingers). The English writer Arthur Conan Doyle was also a fan of strength, and in 1901 he was on the jury of an athletics competition in England.

Dmitry Aleksandrovich Lukin. Mikhail Lukashev, in his story "The Glorious Captain Lukin", describes this strong man in this way: "This man had remarkable popularity in the Russian fleet, and not only in it. The writers V. B. Bronevsky, A. Y. Bulgakov, F. V. Bulgarin, P. P. Svinin, Admiral P. I. Panafidin, Count V. A. Sologub, Decembrists N. I. Lorer, M. I. Pylyaev and others.

V.B. Bronevsky, who went through the 1807 campaign with Lukin, said this: “His experiments of strength produced amazement ... For example, with a slight exertion of strength, he broke horseshoes, could hold pood cannonballs in outstretched hands, lifted a cannon with a machine tool with one hand to a plumb line; with one finger pressed a nail into the ship's wall.

The captain always behaved independently and fearlessly, appeared in the most dangerous places. In Crete, he was attacked by a gang of armed bandits. But after the strongman tore off the heavy marble tabletop from the table and threw it at the raiders, the latter fled in all directions.

In another remote and deserted place - there Lukin was walking with his beloved dog named "Boms", the robber suddenly put a pistol to his chest. The second accomplice stood a little apart. But the usual composure did not betray the captain here either.

I don’t have money, but I’ll give you an expensive watch,” he said and put his right hand into his pocket, pretending to take out a watch, but at the same moment he unexpectedly took the pistol away with his left hand and tightly squeezed the bandit’s hand together with the pistol grip. The robber howled at the squeeze. His accomplice was about to rush to help, but Lukin, without letting go of his grasped hand, briefly commanded: "Boms, drank!" And the well-trained dog rushed at the second robber, knocked him over to the ground and did not let him move. Lukin released the unlucky and badly injured robbers, advising "to be more careful next time." And he left a pistol for himself, in which both the trigger and the trigger guard turned out to be bent and crumpled.

In not a single fight did Lukin strike his opponents. Indeed, he was truly amazing, the only boxer in the world who was afraid not of the opponent's fists, but of his own. And here was the thing. When Lukin was still very young, robbers on one of the streets of night Petersburg tried to break the parade ground from him. But Lukin was not Gogol's Akaky Akakievich. He held the cloak with one hand, and with the other, without even turning around and not very hard, he hit the attacker in the face. But this was enough for the robber with a broken jaw to fall dead onto the pavement. It was after this incident that Lukin promised himself never to use his fists and firmly adhered to this rule even in boxing fights.

The great success of the Estonian strongman world champion Georg Lurich was brought not only by records, but also by the harmony and beauty of the physique. He repeatedly posed for such sculptors as Rodin and Adamson. The sculpture of the last "Champion" was awarded the first prize at the World Exhibition in America in 1904. In the arena, Lurich demonstrated the following numbers: standing on the wrestling bridge, he held four men on himself, and at that time he held a barbell of 7 pounds in his hands. He held five people on one arm, held two camels with his hands, pulling in opposite directions. He lifted a barbell of 105 kg with his right hand and, holding it at the top, took a weight of 34 kg from the floor with his left and lifted it up.

Hans Steyer (Bavaria, 1849 - 1906), standing on two chairs, raised 16 pounds with his middle finger (threaded in a ring). His “live horizontal bar” enjoyed success with the audience: with straight arms, Steyer held a 70-pound barbell in front of him, on the neck of which his son, who weighed 90 pounds, did gymnastic exercises.

Steyer was famous for his eccentricity. His cane weighed 40 pounds, the snuffbox, which he held in the palm of his hand, treating friends, weighed 100 pounds. Sometimes he put a 75-pound top hat on his head and, when he arrived at a cafe, left it on the table, then asked the waiter to bring his top hat.

Louis Cyr ("American Miracle", 1863 - 1912) This strongest man on the American continent was striking in his size. With a height of 176 cm, he had a weight of 133 kg, a chest volume of 147 cm, biceps of 55 cm. A curious incident happened to 22-year-old Louis Cyr in Montreal, where he served as a policeman: once he brought two hooligans to the station, holding them under his arms . After this incident, at the insistence of friends, he began to develop strength and perform with athletic numbers, in which for a long time he did not know competitors. He lifted 26 pounds to his knees with one hand, lifted a platform with 14 adult men on his shoulders. Held a load of 143 pounds in front of him at arm's length for 5 seconds. He put a sheet of paper under the barrel of cement and offered to pull it out. Not a single athlete was able to complete this task, while Louis Cyr himself lifted this barrel every evening.

Bohemian Anton Riha was famous for his ability to carry huge weights. In 1891, he raised 52 poods.

The French athlete Apollon (Louis Yuni) lifted five weights of 20 kg each with one hand. He lifted a barbell weighing 165 kg with a very thick neck (5 cm). Only 20 years after Apollo, this barbell (the axle from the trolley) was able to be lifted by the champion of the 1924 Olympic Games, Charles Rigulo, who, by the way, holds the world record in the snatch with the right hand of 116 kg. In the famous "cage release" trick, Apollo pushes the thick bars apart with his hands and exits the cage.

At the beginning of the 18th century, the athlete Tom Tofan was very popular in England. Of medium height, proportionately built, he easily tore stones weighing up to 24 blowing from the ground with his hands, tied an iron poker around his neck like a scarf, and in 1741, in a square crowded with spectators, he lifted three barrels of water with the help of straps worn on his shoulders. weighing 50 pounds.

In 1893, a competition was held in New York for the title of "world champion in weight lifting." The competition brought together the strongest athletes of the time. Louis Cyr came from Canada, Eugene Sandow from Europe, American James Walter Kennedy twice lifted an iron ball weighing 36 pounds 24.5 pounds, tearing it off the platform by 4 inches. None of their athletes could repeat this number.

The set record turned out to be fatal for the 33-year-old athlete: he overstrained himself and after that he was forced to perform only with a demonstration of his muscles. The athlete died at 43.

In 1906, the Englishman Arthur Saxon lifted a barbell weighing 159 kg to his shoulder with both hands, shifted it to his right hand and pushed it up. He carried a barbell of 6 pounds on his raised hands, at the ends of which hung one person each.

Eugene Sandow (F. Miller, 1867 - 1925) enjoyed great popularity among the British. He was called the "magician of posture" and "the strongest man." With a weight of no more than 80 kg, he set a world record by squeezing 101.5 kg with one hand. He did a back flip, holding 1.5 pounds in each hand. Within four minutes, he could do 200 push-ups on his hands. In 1911, King George V of England awarded Sandow the title of Professor of Physical Development.

The tricks of the American jumper Palmey are curious. Having put a man weighing 48 kg on his shoulders, he jumped over a table 80 cm high and wide with him. Then he put his wife on his back and jumped over a barrel 90 cm high ten times in a row.

"Petersburg leaflet" dated July 3, 1893 wrote about a certain Ivan Chekunov, who, in the presence of a crowd of people, freely lifted an anvil weighing 35 pounds (560 kg).

Georg Gakkenshmidt ("Russian Lion"), world champion in wrestling and world record holder in weightlifting, with one hand squeezed out a barbell weighing 122 kg. He took 41 kg dumbbells in each hand and spread his straight arms horizontally to the sides. I squeezed a barbell weighing 145 kg on the wrestling bridge.

Athletes of antiquity possessed truly phenomenal strength. The Olympia Museum has a stone resembling a giant stone weight weighing 143.5 kg. On this ancient weight there is an inscription: "Bibon raised me above his head with one hand." For comparison, we recall that the outstanding weightlifter of our time A. Pisarenko pushed the weight of 257.5 kg with both hands.

The Russian Tsar Peter I possessed enormous power. In Holland, for example, he stopped windmills with his hands, grasping the wing.

Our contemporary power juggler Valentin Dikul freely juggles 80-kilogram kettlebells and holds the "Volga" on his shoulders (the dynamometer shows the load on the athlete's shoulders is 1570 kg). The most amazing thing is that Dikul became a power juggler 7 years after a severe injury, which usually makes people disabled for life. In 1961, acting as an aerial acrobat, Dikul fell in a circus from a great height and received a compression fracture of the spine in the lumbar region. As a result, the lower body and legs were paralyzed. Dikul needed three and a half years of hard training on a special simulator, combined with self-massage, to take the first step on his previously paralyzed legs, and another year to fully restore their movement.

Vladimir Savelyev in July 2001 completed a unique power marathon on July 20, 2001 with an achievement that will be included in the Guinness Book of Records. Starting from July 18, the athlete lifted a 24-kilogram weight every day for 12 hours in a row. He pushed the weight from his chest over his head to his outstretched arm, resting no more than 10 minutes per hour. All this took place on a red-hot stone square in front of the Moskvich cultural center. In 36 hours, Saveliev squeezed the projectile 14,663 times, lifting a total of more than 351 tons.

30-year-old power gymnast from Dagestan Omar Khanapiev set such a record. Grasping the cable with his teeth, he moved the TU-134 plane from its place and dragged it seven meters. This kind of talent manifested itself in him 20 years ago. Even then, with his teeth, he pulled out nails hammered into boards and bent horseshoes. On November 9, 2001, in the fishing port of Makhachkala, Khanapiev moved and dragged a tanker with a displacement of 567 tons across the water for a distance of 15 meters. On November 7, in the same way, he dragged locomotives weighing 136 and 140 tons to a distance of 10 and 12 meters. By the way, outwardly Omar Khanapiev does not look like a hero at all: his height is below average, and his weight is about 60 kilograms.

American researchers tried to establish the potential for increasing human strength. It turned out that the strength of the biceps muscle of the right hand during flexion increases under the influence of taking a moderate dose of alcohol by an average of 1.8 kg, with the introduction of adrenaline into the blood - by 2.3 kg, after the introduction of the exciting drug aphetamine - by 4.7 kg, and under hypnosis - even 9.1 kg.

Our contemporary, a young Frenchman Patrick Edlinger, with a body weight of 63 kg with a height of 176 cm, is able to pull himself up on any finger of both hands. Its main ability is to storm sheer cliffs without using any technical or safety means at all. He trains for 6 hours a day, and not only in rock climbing, but also according to the yoga system. Among his outstanding achievements is the ascent at his fingertips over hot stones of the 800-meter sheer peak of the Hand of Fatma, rising in the very center of the Malian desert.

The example of a brave climber was followed by a young Frenchwoman Catherine Destival. At the age of 25, she was seriously injured: as a result of a fall from a cliff 35 m high, she suffered a double fracture of the pelvis, a fracture of several lumbar vertebrae and a rib. Nevertheless, after three months, thanks to hard training, in 2 hours without insurance and equipment, she conquered the sheer peak of El Puro in the Aragonese mountains in Spain.

Physiologists have established that a person can spend only up to 70% of his muscular energy by willpower, and the remaining 30% is a reserve in case of emergency. Let us give some examples of such circumstances.

Once a polar pilot, while fixing his skis at an airplane that had landed on an ice floe, felt a push on his shoulder, thinking that his comrade was joking, the pilot waved it off: "Don't interfere with work." The push was repeated again, and then, turning around, the man was horrified: in front of him stood a huge polar bear. In an instant, the pilot was on the plane of the wing of his plane and began to call for help. The polar explorers who ran up killed the beast. "How did you get on the wing?" they asked the pilot. "Jumped," he replied. It was hard to believe. During the second jump, the pilot could not overcome even half of this distance. It turned out that in conditions of mortal danger, he took a height close to the world record.

During the Great Patriotic War, during the defense of Sevastopol, a group of fighters rolled a heavy gun to the top of Sapun Mountain. Later, when the battle ended, even a much larger number of people could not move the gun.

And here is a case from the practice of training cosmonauts that Hero of the Soviet Union N.P. Kamanin in his book "The path to space begins with charging."

In August 1967, there was another training of astronauts - parachute jumps. From time to time, white domes bloomed over the Black Sea coast.

An emergency happened to cosmonaut Alexei Leonov: when the dome filled with air, the parachute strap caught on the metal back attached to the satchel and wrapped around the cosmonaut's leg. He hung upside down.

Landing on the crown or back of the head is a dull prospect. And then a gust of wind carried the parachutist to the coastal rocks ... In vain he tried to free his leg. Then, exerting all his strength, he unbent the metal back and pulled out a strap from under it... On the ground, not alone, but with the help of three other cosmonauts, Alexei Leonov tried to straighten the metal, but could not. Just like that, without extreme need, it did not work out.

In another case, the pilot, leaving the crashed plane, tore the hose connecting the high-altitude reinforced with a thick steel spiral with his hands, four hefty guys tried in vain to break it. How can one not recall the words of Napoleon: "The spiritual strength of a person is related to the physical as three to one."

Such a case has also been registered. A man, falling from a skyscraper, caught his hand on a pin in the wall and hung on one arm until help arrived.

An interesting example is also described in H. Lindemann's book "Autogenic Training": "During the repair of a heavy American limousine, a young man fell under it and was crushed to the ground. The victim's father, knowing how much the car weighs, ran after the jack. At this time, to the cries of the young "A man's mother ran out of the house and lifted the body of a multi-ton car on one side with her hands so that her son could get out. Fear for her son opened the mother's access to an emergency reserve of strength."

A similar case was recorded during the earthquake in Iran, where a woman lifted a piece of wall weighing several centners, which crushed her child. During another disaster - in a fire, an elderly woman pulled out a forged chest with her good from the house. When the fire ended, she could not budge him, and the firefighters dragged him back with difficulty.

And here is an incident that occurred in December 1978 in the Mordovian village of Shein-Maidan with Antonina Semyonova Grosheva:

“On December 12, in the evening, I fed the calves for the night and went home from the farm. It was already dark. But I have been walking along this road for twenty-two years, and there was no fear. It was half a kilometer to the last house when I shuddered from a push from behind, and immediately someone grabbed my leg. A dog? We have a huge angry dog ​​in our village, the owners let it run at night. I turned and waved my bag. And then I saw: a wolf! He knocked me down, and I thought: Well, that's death. If it weren't for the handkerchief, it would have been so, because the beast grabbed my throat. I grabbed his jaws with my hands and began to unclench them. And they are like iron. And I got strength from somewhere - with my left I pulled my lower jaw with my hand, and when I wanted to grab it with my right hand, my hand slid into my mouth. I pushed it deeper and caught my tongue. Probably, the wolf was hurt by this, because he stopped tearing, and I was able to get to my feet. help, but no one heard, or maybe they heard and got scared - you never know what happened at night aet". Then Antonina Semyonovna dragged the wolf by the tongue for more than half a kilometer to her house and killed him with a heavy door bolt.

Ecology of knowledge: In an extreme situation, a figurative expression about a person's ability to swim across oceans and move mountains in such conditions turns into a very real development of events.

The human body needs basic necessities like food, water, sleep and oxygen to sustain life. If a person is deprived of one of them, then in a few minutes or days the person will die. In an extreme situation, when it comes to survival, the body can significantly increase this time, contrary to all known laws of nature and the predictions of doctors. A figurative expression about a person's ability to swim across oceans and move mountains in such conditions turns into a very real development of events.

In the struggle for life, the body begins to use hidden internal reserves. There are many cases when people survived in critical conditions, where, it would seem, they had practically no chance. We recalled several real stories that prove the limitlessness of the possibilities of the human body.

In July 1942, four Soviet sailors found themselves without water and food supplies in a boat in the middle of the Black Sea. On the third day, the sailors began to drink sea water, consuming up to two flasks a day. After 19 days of swimming without fresh water, exhausted from hunger, people began to die. The first left his comrades on the 19th, the second left on the 24th, the third on the 30th day. Pavel Ivanovich Yeresko lasted the longest. On the 36th day of his fast, he was found by sailors of a warship. During this time, he lost 22 kg in weight, which was 32% of his original weight, but remained alive.

It is believed that the lethal cooling of the body in cold water should occur in 60 - 90 minutes. In April 1975, 60-year-old biologist Warren Churchill was doing research on a lake covered with floating ice. His boat capsized, and the man spent about 1.5 hours in the water, the temperature of which was + 5°C. By the time the doctors arrived, his heart was barely audible, and the temperature of the internal organs had dropped to 16°C. However, the biologist survived.

The maximum duration of a person's stay without water largely depends on the ambient temperature and physical activity. At rest in the shade at a temperature of 16 - 23 ° C, a person can not drink for 10 days, at an air temperature of 26 ° C, this period is reduced to 9 days. After the earthquake in Mexico City in 1985, under the rubble of a building, rescuers found alive a 9-year-old boy who had not eaten or drunk anything for 13 days.

On average, the body can withstand more than 4 days without sleep. But in 1963, 17-year-old Randy Gardner decided to challenge this claim. For 11 days in a row, the young man did not sleep.

An ordinary person can be without air for a maximum of 5 minutes. But this time can be increased if, before holding the breath, breathe deeply and often with pure oxygen. So, Californian Robert Foster after such breathing exercises could be without scuba gear under water for 13 minutes 42.5 seconds.

The human body is able to withstand in dry air a temperature of 71°C for one hour, and 104°C for 26 minutes. However, in 1828, a case was described of a man staying in a furnace for 14 minutes, the temperature in which reached 170 ° C.

It has been established that a person spends up to 70% of his muscular energy, and the remaining 30% is a reserve for an emergency. Such a case fell on the duty of firefighter Chris Hickman in 2008 in Florida. Without outside help and auxiliary tools, he lifted the Chevrolet Blazer 30 cm off the ground to free the driver's pinched hand. published

The ever-increasing pace and complexity of life today require us to have a high resistance to stress and the ability to quickly restore the nervous system. Without such qualities, it is simply impossible to be successful in a constantly changing world. Failure to use the body's hidden capabilities inevitably leads to poor health, premature aging and a decrease in the quality of life.

This time we will talk about the skills that people need to fulfill themselves and be healthy.

Short nap and coffee

Each of us has repeatedly found ourselves in a situation where important things require activity and concentration that cannot be provided by a tired brain and body. In this case, it makes sense to use an effective tool that allows you to relax without wasting time.

The method is very simple: you need to drink a cup of coffee, and then take a nap for 15-20 minutes. The essence of the method is that the invigorating effect provided by coffee does not occur immediately. In order for brain activity to become more active, at least 20 minutes must pass from the moment you receive a dose of caffeine. During this time, a person does not have time to enter the phase of deep sleep, and a short rest provides a surge of strength.

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Breathing practice "kapalabhati"

Indian yogis have been practicing this exercise for a long time. It helps to quickly cheer up, activate the activity of the brain, increase peripheral blood flow.

Kapalabhati breathing consists of alternating normal inhalation and a sharp, maximally accentuated exhalation. By repeating the cycle 10-12 times, you will feel a surge of energy and an increase in efficiency.

Breathing exercises have another beneficial effect: they can stimulate the metabolism. The kapalabhati method can be successfully used in cases where you need to quickly warm up.

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Physical activity

If you are very tired, you usually want to lie down, but if you need a quick recovery of activity, this is useless. Oddly enough, it is necessary to act in the exact opposite way: the mobilization of the hidden reserves of the body can be achieved through physical exercises.

It has been established that walking for 15 minutes contributes to the influx of forces sufficient for 2 hours of work. If you can't get outside, open a window or turn on the air conditioner to cool the room. Do some exercises for the arms and neck, torso twists and squats. Walk around the room. A good effect will give 5-10 minutes of dancing to fast music. Just try not to overdo it: being very tired, you will reduce the positive effects of physical activity to zero.

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aromatherapy

The smells of mint, pine, bergamot, lemon, grapefruit, lemon balm have a tonic effect on the nervous system. Aromas of clove, cinnamon and nutmeg relieve stress. The smell of coffee is invigorating. Unlike the drink itself, it begins to act immediately, the effect of it is stronger.

There are different ways to use fragrances to enhance physical and mental performance. To use the hidden reserves of the body, it is enough to evaporate a few drops of essential oil using an aroma lamp. You can do without special devices: a tangible invigorating effect will be given by a bush of mint or lemon balm grown in the room, or just a few pieces of lemon peel laid out on the table.

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Rehearsal of a stressful situation

A modern person often finds himself in a situation where he needs to demonstrate his knowledge and skills as fully as possible, but he fears that excitement will prevent this. This can happen in an exam, in a job interview, in a public speaking session, and so on. Thinking about an upcoming test usually only adds to the excitement.

The problem is solved simply: you need to arrange a rehearsal for a future event, simulating the main parameters of a stressful situation as accurately as possible. For example, repeat the text of your speech several times, including a recording of street noises as a sound background. It is useful, if possible, to reproduce the atmosphere of a future event in the room: put on a suit in which you will perform, direct a bright light at yourself. It is important not so much to accurately repeat the speech that you are going to give, but to try to get used to the situation. If you stop worrying, the words will come to mind on their own and you will avoid stupor.

Non-state educational institution.

Krasnoyarsk Cooperative College of Economics of Commerce and Law.

Discipline: Physical Culture.

Topic: Concepts: health, reserves of the human body, a healthy lifestyle.

Made by teachers Ts.K.

Military sports training

1. Concepts: health, reserves of the human body, a healthy lifestyle.

2. Healthy lifestyle factors.

3. Nutrition.

4. The impact of overweight on health.

5. Means of maintaining normal weight.

6. Smoking. its role in the development of diseases.

7. Alcoholism, drug addiction, substance abuse. Their role in the degradation of personality.

8. Physical culture and healthy lifestyle.

9. Hardening. value, means, technique.

10. The role of rhythms in human life.

1. What is health? One person does not get sick with the flu even during its epidemic, it is enough for another to sneeze, and he is already sick. One gets into the wormwood in winter and doesn’t even get a runny nose, the other one went for a walk in the fresh frosty air, and he already has a sore throat. We say about the first that he is in good health, about the second that he is in poor health? Yes, it is important, but not only. Other definition of health is the ability to maintain balance between the body and the constantly changing external and internal environment. Any living organism, including the human one, has great reserves in maintaining such a balance. What is a reserve? This is the difference in the performance of an organ, system at maximum load and the level of rest.

Let's explain with an example. The human heart at rest pumps about 4-5 liters of blood per minute. Under load (for example, when running for 3 km), the body's need for oxygen, and consequently, for blood flow, greatly increases. The volume of blood that the heart can pump in a minute can increase up to 20 liters, i.e. such a heart has a fivefold reserve. Why do you need such a large reserve in life? Example. The man fell ill with typhus. The body temperature rose to 40°C. The need for oxygen increased by 2 times. With a five-fold reserve, the heart will cope with such a load without stress. An untrained heart has no such reserve. Within a few minutes, the body tissues will be in severe oxygen starvation.

Reserves are possessed by all body systems and the greater, the more subjected to training. Now is the time to give a definition of health by the most authoritative body - the World Health Organization (WHO). It operates within the framework of the United Nations (UN).

“Health is a state of complete physical, spiritual and social well-being, and not just the absence of disease.” Physical well-being is when all organs of the human body are in order, function within the normal range and can even, if necessary, work with a significant excess of the norm, i.e. have a reserve.

Spiritual (spiritual or mental) well-being implies a predominance of a good mood in a person, his confidence in his future, a positive attitude to overcome difficulties and adverse situations, in contrast to a decadent mood that causes negative emotions and even depression. Spiritual well-being also implies a kind attitude towards LIODIES, the absence of misanthropic traits in the character, which is very important for creating a benevolent background of human relations around oneself. Social well-being implies a stable position of a person in society, the presence of a good paid job, a family.

What do you mean by "healthy lifestyle"? Lifestyle is a system of relationships between a person and himself and with environmental factors. A healthy lifestyle (HLS) is understood as one in which the reserves of the body are preserved or expanded.

2.0lifestyle depends on many conditions (factors). For ease of remembering, they can be grouped into three groups.

l-th group of factors. Everything that surrounds a person is the environment. These are the walls of the apartment and the house, the streets are transported on them. These are forest and mountains, meadow and river, sun and air, human clothes. Here we also include people surrounding a person - a microsociety, as scientists say. Family and study group, production team, roommates.

2nd group of factors. Everything that a person "introduces" into himself. Food, drugs, nicotine, alcohol, drugs.

3rd group of factors. What a person gives with him as a result of volitional efforts and awareness of the need for his actions. Here we include physical education and sports, hardening, organization of your working day - alternation of work and rest, rhythm in work.

Let us now touch briefly on all three groups of factors.

We can say that a person is not able to influence such components of the environment as climate, radiation, cleanliness of air and water. But such an assessment would be incomplete. Even the solution of global problems depends on each specific person, on his civic position, on his conscientious performance of his work. After all, people, having united, managed to resist the implementation of the project of transferring the flow of rivers flowing north to south. Moreover, it is in the power of each person to solve their personal, specific problems related to their own health. It is well known, for example, that constant noise exceeding threshold values ​​also adversely affects health. It would seem harmless and pleasant listening to music through the player. And it turns out that it significantly impairs hearing. Research by students in Tennessee (USA) showed that 60% of young people have the same hearing ability as people aged 60-69 years, i.e. reduced.

Loud noise causes constriction of blood vessels, dilated pupils, increased muscle tone, increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, breath holding and stomach cramps. Persistent narrowing of the blood vessels can lead to hypertension.

The cleanliness of clothing adjacent to the body is of particular importance for people involved in physical culture and sports. Quite often, students after intensive knowledge, causing profuse sweating, do not wash under a warm shower, do not change their clothes. As a result, they not only spread the smell of sweat that is unpleasant for other people, but also harm their own health. The human skin has many functions. It regulates heat transfer, penetrated by a dense network of venous blood vessels. Nerve endings are located on the skin, the skin is directly connected with the endocrine system. No life processes are possible without skin. For example, like the lungs, the skin inhales air and water through microscopic pores, and when the small pores that occupy most of the surface of the body become clogged for some reason, the person loses consciousness. Dirty skin is also the cause of skin diseases (furunculosis, etc.) and difficult rest after exercise.

Microsociety. A family, a study group, a team interact with a person constantly - all the working day and the whole working week. Therefore, the nature of this relationship, the psychological background, is very important for human health. If the relationship is friendly, attentive, sustained, without rudeness and insults, this contributes to health. A person is in a good mood, good mood, he himself studies goodness and bright feelings. It is very important to be kind and friendly yourself. After all, any permanent group consists of personalities, several "I", which create a favorable or vice versa, oppressive psychological climate of the group.

3. First of all, it is necessary to point out the good quality of food products. They should not contain substances harmful to the human body (nitrates, salts of heavy metals, etc.), be contaminated with radiation. When buying products on the market, it is very important to find out where they come from - whether they are from areas affected by radiation pollution after the Chernobyl disaster; where the potato grew, whether it was by the road, collecting all the harmful substances from the exhaust gases of cars. The next requirement for a healthy diet is its balance.

Balanced food and calorie intake. The main food products are proteins, fats, carbohydrates. The ratio in human nutrition of proteins, fats, carbohydrates should be maintained in a ratio of 1:0, 7:4.

Proteins are the main building material. Once in the human body, proteins break down into amino acids, from which the substances necessary for the body are formed. Some of the amino acids can be synthesized in the body, they are called nonessential. Amino acids that are not synthesized in the body are called essential. They must be ingested with animal products and cereals, i.e. bakery products.

Carbohydrates are a source of energy. They are found in vegetables, fruits, milk. With an excess intake of carbohydrates in the body, they are able to turn into fats. Excess protein can also be converted into fats.

Fats (they are of animal and vegetable origin) are a source of energy and fat-soluble vitamins. Vitamins are accelerators (catalysts) of metabolic processes. The balance of food in terms of calories implies moderation in nutrition, following the saying: "You need to eat to live, not live to eat." Feelings of hunger, greed for food do not always indicate starvation of the body. This feeling is trainable. With the constant satisfaction of this feeling, adaptation (adaptation) arises and claims increase. If the environment provides an abundance of food, then the training of appetite and the excess of income over consumption is inevitable. Only a strong competing feeling can stop this process - says Professor N.M. Amosov - for example, any or the belief that "getting fat is ugly and harmful." The habit of constant chewing in childhood leads to the formation of an increased number of fat cells in the body. It is not possible to get rid of them even when switching to a normal diet. In passing, it makes sense to say about the habit of constantly chewing chewing gum that has spread in recent years. First of all, it's unethical. What a pleasure it is to talk to a chewing person! But it turns out that this is not harmless. Doctors have found that the constant use of chewing gum leads to an increase in the acidity of the gastric juice. And this is the way to gastritis and ulcers.

4. Excess fat under the skin changes the shape of the figure, moving it away from the ideal. But if only all the troubles were limited to aesthetic costs! Excess weight leads to a number of diseases. Studies conducted at St. Petersburg University in Sweden have shown that even a small excess of 3-5 kg ​​leads to an increase in blood pressure, an increase in the level of cholesterol in the blood (diabetes disease). Fat men are more likely than thin men to have cancer of the colon and rectum, and women have cancer of the breast, gastric bladder, uterus, and ovaries. Studies have found that fat cells in the abdomen are more dangerous in their pathogenicity than the same cells in other parts of the body. Norwegian nutritionist Hans Waaler compared the dependence of the life expectancy of Norwegians on their weight and came to the conclusion that the body of slender women (height in cm minus 100, minus 10%) are less resistant to diseases. Healthier women whose weight exceeds the average by 10-12 kg. 1-10 if the "feminine ideal of Rubens" is exceeded, the opposite effect occurs. According to Valer, deviation in both directions from the framework of the "Rubensian" figure reduces the hope of living to an old age.

Among persons whose weight exceeds the norm by 2 times, the mortality rate is 12 times higher. Therefore, the saying “the more the better for a good person” can only be taken as a joke. And one more thing: what is good for women is bad for men - for them, any overweight is a risk factor.

Man has always been interested and will be interested in his ability to influence, change the world around him and himself. We can say that all the achievements of mankind are the disclosure of the capabilities of a person, his psyche. Where is the limit of human capabilities and when will it be reached? This question interests everyone. Many thinkers have devoted their works to this. Socrates famous phrase: "Know thyself." Plato, Aristotle from different positions considered the human mind as the only engine and organizer of behavior. Opportunities are realized in action, and action is impossible without knowledge - knowledge of oneself, the world around, including social knowledge. Here, if you want, is the answer to the question posed. But is everything so simple?

In folk tales, from generation to generation, myths about the incredible capabilities of man were passed on - the exploits of Hercules, the strength of Ilya Muromets. The literature describes the ability of yogis to hold their breath, stop their hearts, stay in the cold for days, maintaining a normal body temperature, immerse themselves in acid, and much more. Closer - public speaking with psychological experiments, when the presenter memorizes a huge amount of information, performs mathematical operations with six-digit numbers, blindfolded finds a hidden object in the auditorium. We can cite specific facts from the life of our contemporaries. The life path of weightlifter V. Dikul, who, as a result of a back injury, was chained to a hospital bed for five whole years, and then ... became a circus performer performing with unique power numbers. He opened a now world-famous center for the rehabilitation of back and limb injuries.

And here is another fact that speaks of the extraordinary possibilities of man. During the flight of the domestic spacecraft, the sustainer engine failed. The landing of the ship due to the operation of the maneuvering engines was very problematic, the ship could remain in orbit and become an artificial satellite of the Earth. Landing still took place, but in extreme mode. It was believed that the body can endure a 9-fold overload for 20 seconds, but no activity is possible. During the landing, the overload was 12-fold for more than 2 minutes, and cosmonaut N. Rukavishnikov reported to the control center all this time what was happening on board.

Another fact is from the artistic biography of the people's artist I. Pevtsov. From birth he was a stutterer, at school he could not answer orally and gave his answers in writing. When he told his relatives that he wanted to become an artist, they called him crazy and tried to dissuade him. However, he became an artist. Pevtsov himself noted: “... when my creative imagination was so strong that it moved me into some other image, with a different fate, with a different way of speaking, I became someone else, the text was speaking, coming organically from the other, like words , which belong to him. The power of imagination conquered my illness.

There is such a science of biomechanics (studying the patterns of movement), within which the issue of predicting sports achievements is also solved. Every decade, scientists draw conclusions about the limits of athletes, and they constantly exceed them. Currently, within the framework of sports medicine and sports pedagogy, a new scientific discipline of maximology is being formed - the study of the maximum capabilities of a person.

Even at the beginning of the century, the famous physiologist I.P. Pavlov pointed out that the human sciences faced the important task of multiplying, developing and using "the greatest reserves of the nervous system and psyche." B. G. Ananiev, one of the largest domestic psychologists, defining the tasks of psychology, emphasized that the future of psychology is in revealing the reserves of the psyche, establishing the principles and mechanisms for their development and implementation.

Why, speaking about the capabilities of a person, they talk about his reserves and, above all, have in mind the reserves of the psyche? Let's try to figure it out.

The issue of reserves is closely related to the principles and mechanisms of the functioning of the body, behavior and human activity. The existence of any substance is based on the law of conservation of the whole (the law of self-preservation). It should be added that without energy, without energy supply, nothing and no one can exist. Self-preservation is realized due to adaptation mechanisms. The principles of adaptation in animate and inanimate nature are different. In inanimate matter, this is the principle of stable static equilibrium. A stone is still a stone (i.e., retains its integrity) as long as the forces of molecular interaction can resist the forces of external influence (Hooke's law - the force of action is equal to the force of reaction).

At the basis of the existence, vital activity of a living organism, another principle is laid - the principle of stable dynamic non-equilibrium. The essence of this principle lies in the constant inequality of energy flows. The maximum activity of the animal is observed not during the period when it is full, full of strength and energy, but when it is hungry. From a systemic point of view, a living organism is considered as a self-adjusting system. The peculiarity of such a system also lies in the fact that in its functioning it tends to the so-called equilibrium state (equality of the flows of accumulation and expenditure of energy), but never in such a state. This is the main condition for its existence. The autonomic nervous system is responsible for energy processes in the body. There are two energy systems in a living organism. The function of the exogenous system is to expend energy that is endogenous to accumulation. Their energy potentials are never equal. At each particular moment in time, one or the other potential prevails in the body. Exceeding one potential turns on the mechanism of another. The processes of homeostasis are responsible for this. This is one of the main manifestations of self-preservation, which consists in the principle of activity (in biology, this principle is called the principle of development). The more energy is spent, the more intensively the mechanisms of its accumulation begin to work. Since biochemical processes are very inert, the energy potential is not only restored, but also exceeds the original one (the phenomenon of super-recovery). The training process of athletes is built on the use of this principle, this ensures an increase in the level of functionality.

The principle of activity has one peculiarity. Any activity is the satisfaction of a need. Specialists distinguish biological (organism) and social (personality) needs. The highest is the need for self-realization, that is, the need to realize one's potential. It should be noted that myths manifest nothing more than a person's need for self-realization.

Realization of opportunities is carried out through the achievement of goals that a person sets for himself. The goal that we have achieved in the future no longer suits us, we are striving for something new. Let's remember children, their attitude to toys, their craving for new things, including in studies. Adults have the same thing: as soon as we have acquired something, achieved something, after a while it no longer suits us, we strive for new achievements. All these are manifestations of the principle of activity.

Human capabilities have become the subject of scientific study only in the last fifty years, and this is due to the development of technology and human activity in increasingly complex conditions. Here are two statements by Academician A. I. Berg, the founder of domestic cybernetics, characterizing the evolution of ideas about human capabilities: “the future belongs to intelligent automata” and “whatever functions technology performs, decision-making will always be up to a person.” The first refers to the 50s, the second to the 70s of the last century.

The development of opportunities is inherent in the very nature of man and, above all, in his activity. All chapters of this textbook, in their essence, reveal the mechanisms and features of human activity. In this chapter, we will name the defining components of activity - inclinations, interest, social environment, which can support or reject a specific activity of a person, and motives (perceived causes of activity, goals of activity). These are the components of activity, self-realization of potentialities. 25 years of experience in space flights led experts to the conclusion that in order to fly into space, one does not need to have any extraordinary abilities; it is necessary to have good health and purposefulness, that is, stable motives for this activity.

The term "reserves" in relation to a person is borrowed from the theory of reliability. Redundancy is the main condition, the fundamental principle of the reliability of the functioning of any system. Structural and functional redundancy is distinguished. Structural redundancy refers to the presence of additional elements that can replace faulty elements, redundancy (the presence of several options for interaction between elements of the control system) and duplication (the aircraft autopilot is a triple automatic flight control system that operates on the principle of consistency). Functional redundancy refers to those ranges of conditions in which the system can perform the functions assigned to it. In this case, they talk about the technical characteristics of the system, that is, about the functionality of the technology.

This principle can also be used to analyze the redundancy of a person. Human structural redundancy has been exhaustively shown in the neurophysiological and physiological literature. Let's just give some examples. With a multibillion-dollar redundancy of neurons in the cerebral cortex, only a fraction of a percent of the total number of neurons work simultaneously. The right and left hemispheres, on the one hand, perform different functions, on the other hand, if necessary, each can take over the functions of the other hemisphere. As an example, we can also cite a huge number of conductive nerve pathways, paired organs of our body, etc.

Functional redundancy, as already mentioned, is closely related to functionality. Strictly from a scientific point of view, functionality is understood as the limiting level of intensity of physiological processes, at which the constancy of their functioning is preserved. This can be most clearly illustrated by the example of a functional test. The essence of the test is to perform a dosed physical activity (for example, work on a bicycle ergometer) and record physiological parameters. The simplest indicator is the heart rate (HR). Heart rate is measured before work and during work on a bicycle ergometer. As fatigue increases, the pulse speeds up, but the frequency of contractions remains constant (in medicine, this is called an adequate response to the load). Finally, there comes a moment when a sharp abrupt change in heart rate begins to be observed (inadequate reaction - the body cannot adapt to the conditions, there is a mismatch in the functioning of its systems). In trained athletes, the limit of an adequate response in terms of heart rate reaches 220-250 beats per minute. In healthy people who are not engaged in physical culture - 120-150 beats per minute.

In a broader sense, functionality is the ability of a person to perform a particular job, taking into account his knowledge, skills and abilities. We often hear that the limit of human capabilities does not exist, they are unlimited. If we talk about humanity, then history shows all the expanding possibilities of man, which are based on the experience of all previous generations. But if we keep in mind a specific person, then nevertheless there is a limit to development - these are the so-called potential capabilities of a person, the terms of which are contained in inclinations, abilities and talents. The limits of the development of human capabilities are studied at the level of biochemical, neurophysiological and physiological processes, but the central problem is the study of the possibilities of the psyche. As shown in the first chapters of the textbook, the psyche regulates the interaction of the human body with the environment. The psyche controls all processes in the body, as well as our behavior and activities. That is why the development of possibilities is primarily associated with the reserves of the psyche. The reserves of the psyche are unrealized possibilities. Scientists believe that modern people realize their potential by an average of 30-40%, and only some - by 50-60%.

Capability development has two components. This is a natural mechanism of growth, development of the body and psyche during the period of maturation (up to 18–23 years old) and purposeful human activity (this issue is described in detail in Chapter 11 and especially in § 11.7 “Human Development Potentials”). Here we will dwell on the factors accompanying the development of mental functions, the development of human capabilities.

Everyone knows how important physical education is in the development of a child. Indeed, physical exercises develop strength, speed, endurance, coordination, intensify metabolic processes and thereby contribute to the growth of the child. But there is one feature of the movement. We can perform movement only with the appropriate work of mental processes - sensations, perception, attention, etc. On the other hand, movement, motor activity contributes to the development of absolute and differential sensitivity (see Chapter 4), on the foundation of which the entire mental sphere of a person is built. More mobile children begin to walk, talk, read earlier, because they have better developed absolute and differential sensitivity.

In the past two decades, there has been a sharp increase in the number of children experiencing difficulties in mastering the primary school curriculum. There are many reasons, but the consequence is the lag in mental development. Parents invite tutors, children attend preparatory groups, it has become fashionable to turn to psychotherapists. The analysis shows that modern children move 2–3 times less than children of the 50s and 60s. And in a significant number of cases, the lag in the development of the child's psyche is associated with insufficient motor activity. Today, psychological science has data on how, with the help of specially selected motor exercises, to promote the development of specific mental functions - attention, memory, thinking. Psychologists are conducting research to help understand how to develop mental functions with the help of motor exercises in people with mental disorders from birth or as a result of trauma.

The role and significance of the movement is not limited to this. Everyone knows well that the realization of a person's capabilities largely depends on the state in which he is - tired or rested, healthy or sickly, vigorous or lethargic. The well-known sports psychologist R. M. Zagainov in one of his books describes working with A. Karpov. He writes how difficult it was for him to get the world champion to play sports for 40 minutes every day. And only after a series of defeats Karpov changed his attitude to physical culture and began to consider functional training as a prerequisite both in the period of preparation for chess tournaments and during tournaments to maintain a state of mobilization.

Functionality decreases with age. The science of gerontology has a mass of facts of the high physical and mental potential of the elderly, and in all cases these people paid great attention to physical exercises. I. P. Pavlov, as director of the Physiological Institute, organized compulsory regular physical education classes for employees, he himself was engaged in camps all his life. People's Artist I. V. Ilyinsky was fond of skating until the age of 80. The famous aircraft designer O. K. Antonov at the age of 70 played tennis at the level of the 2nd category. There are many such examples. Physical culture and physical activity are indeed the most effective means of maintaining somatic and mental health, maintaining and increasing functional tone, prolonging the active period of a person’s life, and active life position.

Let us dwell on activity as a factor in the development of human capabilities. Psychologists classify activities into three types - play, study and work. In the previous paragraph, we showed that activity is the basis of life activity. If activity is considered in the age aspect, then in childhood it is predominantly spontaneous, unknowable (involuntary) activity. The orientation of the child's activity, as a rule, is associated with inclinations (biologically determined predisposition to something). If you watch children play, you can see that some children prefer one activity, others prefer another. The child prefers to do what he does best. This is how they are formed interests- this is the stage of awareness of one's activity, the child can say, "why he is doing this." The next step in becoming aware of your activity is the answer to the question “why am I doing this”. This is how it is formed goal awareness activities. In sports pedagogy, there is a certain scheme for the formation of a novice athlete who has not yet achieved anything in sports, the so-called "far-away goal" - for example, performance at the Olympic Games. The main condition for the formation of the goal is the personal meaning of the results that a person aspires to. Achieving the goal becomes the meaning of human life at this stage of life. The more difficult the achievement of the goal, the more significant it is for a person. All the examples given in this chapter have one thing in common - the goal that a person strives to achieve has a personal meaning for him and determines the meaning of life at a certain time period. It can be minutes in extreme situations, years of life in professional work. Let's remember what talent is - abilities plus work, work and once again work.

Redundancy is the fundamental principle of the reliable functioning of technology, human activity. Neither technology nor man at the maximum of their capabilities will be able to perform their functions. If the bridge is designed for a maximum load of 30 tons, then traffic will be limited to a weight of 20 tons. American cars with high engine power are not made to go at a speed of 200 miles per hour, but for the durability and reliability of the engine. The same applies to a person. The reservation of human capabilities is a classic problem of engineering psychology that studies a person in the conditions of professional activity. This problem arose during the period of intensive introduction of automated and automatic control systems into human labor.

Let's return to the statement of academician A. I. Berg: "the future belongs to intelligent automata." It was believed that a person with his limited abilities loses to technology - he reads information more slowly, remembers worse and at the same time forgets, takes a long time to make a decision, etc. It turned out not quite so. One study examined the amount of information a chess player can take in at once. For a fraction of a second, he was presented with a chess composition, which he had to reproduce. The results were deplorable, the chess players did not differ in any way from the control group of subjects, non-chess players. However, at the same time, it was noticed that although the chess players could not reproduce the composition, they said: "White gives a checkmate in two moves." It turns out that a person processes information not in formalized units, bits, but in semantic ones. When proofreading work, the unit of information is a letter, space, punctuation mark, while reading scientific literature - a scientific fact, an idea. For 20 years, matches have been organized between world champions and chess computers. In 1997, the computer beat G. Kasparov, but then it turned out that grandmasters helped the computer. A scandal erupted.

Unlike technical devices, a person perceives information not only from formal sources of information, but also informal ones - vibrations, noises, etc. In the 70s, British airlines began to use automatic aircraft control systems at the most difficult stage of flight - landing. And it turned out that in those cases when the equipment refused to control the aircraft, the pilot did not have time to take control, he needed time to get involved (work in) in the control process. Subsequently, domestic psychologists formulated the concept of "active operator". A person must constantly be included in the management process, but overloading him with professional duties is just as fraught as not loading him up. Where is the solution? In reservation of possibilities of the person.

Even at the dawn of the automotive industry, the Ford brothers organized the assembly of cars on the assembly line. Productivity has increased, but marriage has increased. Reducing the speed of the conveyor allowed to reduce the percentage of scrap. Today it has been established that the optimal pace of activity and the amount of information processed make up 65–75% of a person’s capabilities. Thus, 25-35% of the current capacity is reserved. This is necessary in case of an error in the work and its correction, fluctuations in attention, unforeseen circumstances. This mode of activity allows for a long time to maintain high performance. This, so to speak, is the external side of the organization of activities, the realization of human capabilities.

Indicators of human activity depend not only on the organization of his work, but also on the functional and mental state. The functional state is understood as a complex of characteristics of those functions and qualities of a person that directly or indirectly determine the performance of an activity. The functional state is closely related to the capabilities of a person and the actualization at the moment of the psychophysiological resources of the individual to perform a certain behavioral act in specific conditions. Actualization of resources, regulation of internal processes in the body, human behavior and activities are completely determined by the mental state. The mental state is considered as the result of an adaptive reaction of the human psyche in response to changes in external and internal conditions, aimed at achieving a positive result and manifested in the degree of mobilization of opportunities. The mental state is an integral characteristic of the human psyche at a particular moment in time. The course of all processes of regulation of the functioning of the body (biochemical and physiological), mental processes (sensations, memory, thinking, emotions, etc.) depends on the mental state of a person, the degree of manifestation of the properties of a person’s personality (anxiety, aggressiveness, motivational attitudes, etc.). The mental state is characterized by two sets of variables - objective and subjective.

The objective components of the mental state are the characteristics of the course of the mental processes responsible for the performance of the activity. The integral manifestation of the objective components is the level of activation of all body systems. In this sense, activation is understood as “the degree of energy mobilization”. All human states can be divided into two groups - the state of adequate mobilization (adequate response) and the state of dynamic mismatch (inadequate response). Adequate mobilization is characterized by the full compliance of the tension of the functional capabilities of a person with the requirements imposed by specific conditions. In the case of a state of dynamic mismatch, a reaction of an inadequate situation is observed or the required psychophysiological costs exceed the actual, i.e., available human capabilities.

One of the simple methodological methods for assessing the level of activation is the bioelectric potential (BEP), measured using two contact plates applied to the surface of the skin of the hand. Studies conducted on sprint athletes have shown that in a state of full mobilization in masters of sports, the activation level in relation to the background measured in a calm environment rises to 400%, in dischargers - up to 200–250%, and in non-athletes, an excess of activation level 150% leads to a decrease in productivity. In those cases when athletes exceeded the indicated ranges (there were cases of an increase in the activation level up to 500–700%), their sports results decreased. One conclusion follows from the above example. The degree of implementation of functionality is carried out by increasing the level of activation. The greater the functionality, the higher the activation level must be to implement it. Here is a specific example of adequate and inadequate mobilization of human capabilities. In itself, an increase in the value of the activation level does not give anything, it is necessary to accustom the functional systems of the body to function in a coordinated manner at such high levels of activation. This is only achieved through hard work. The author witnessed how the future 1972 Olympic champion in high jump Yu. Tarmak performed jump exercises for coordination of movements with a heart rate of 270 beats per minute during training only because at the time of the jump to the maximum height, the heart beat with a frequency of 250 beats. The task of such training was to develop the ability to control one's movements with such an intensity of the body's functioning.

Summing up the conversation about human reserves in activity, two aspects should be singled out. The first is the increase in functional capabilities (and more broadly speaking about professional capabilities) is a process of structural reservation of capabilities, that is, what a person can fundamentally perform. The second - in the process of activity, its effective, productive implementation is possible with the reservation of available functional capabilities (current reservation of capabilities). Both in the first and in the second cases, the value of 25-30% of the maximum human capabilities should be considered as a universal criterion for the optimal reservation of opportunities.

The main method of activating the unused reserves of the body and psyche, and there are plenty of them, is the activity of a life position, for the purposes that a person sets for himself. Only in overcoming objective circumstances and oneself, the hidden possibilities of a person are revealed. Remember the words of F. Engels: "Labor made a man a man." The highest human need is the self-realization of the potential inherent in each of us. In the last decade, psychologists have been studying the phenomenon of self-actualization. Scientific facts show that self-actualization is realized in the professional and social status of a person, in satisfaction with those personal achievements that a person has achieved, self-confidence. Now, in the period of social transformations in Russian society, this is the most relevant. Studies show that today up to 80% of Russians are dissatisfied with how they realize their potential. Here lies the potential, the reserve on a national scale. Unleashing the potential of people across society is a long-term endeavor. It is connected with the transformation of society itself, the structure of which either contributes to or limits the realization of a person's potential. But one must begin with oneself, with one's attitude towards oneself, one's capabilities, with one's attitude towards the structure of society and one's role in its transformation.

Speaking about the disclosure of the potential of a particular person, the following should be highlighted. Much in our life - actions, deeds, plans - depends on our mood. How many times did each of us refuse to do something, saying: "I'm not in the mood." Our mood is a manifestation of the subjective components of the mental state, which we have already mentioned above. Experiences of excitement, anxiety, irritability, apathy, depression, fatigue, satiety, etc. significantly affect the results of activity. The ability to manage, control one's state is a very powerful factor in realizing one's capabilities. Everyone in school and student years had to participate in competitions. And in those cases when it was possible to cope with the pre-start excitement, the performance brought, if not the first places, then satisfaction with oneself, with a sports result. And who did not sit the last days before the exam for 15-20 hours a day, without feeling tired? Here are examples of managing your mental state. In psychology, this direction is called methods of mental self-regulation of the state. To be able to manage your condition, you need to learn how to feel. There are different methods of teaching self-regulation techniques, which are based on exercises for psychomuscular relaxation and mobilization. In a broader sense, managing one's state, primarily one's emotions, is called psychological culture. Psychological culture is also a way of life, organization of life and social activities.

In the process of activity, hard work, the energy potential is consumed, a person gets tired. I. P. Pavlov also defined the “principle of active switching” to restore working capacity - switching to another type of activity. Restoration of functionality is associated with metabolic processes. It has been established that when performing a functional load with a heart rate in the range of 100–120 beats per minute, the restoration of functional capabilities occurs most intensively. The state of functional and mental freshness can be called ideal. In this state, a person can “move mountains”.

In conclusion, we will make the main conclusion. The reserves of the psyche are, on the one hand, in the unrealized potential of a person. On the other hand, for the full disclosure of the available possibilities, it is necessary to reserve the intensity of the functioning of the human psyche. The disclosure of a person's potential depends on him, on his activity. But at the same time, you need to know the principles and mechanisms of the functioning of the systems of the body and psyche, the manifestation of the psychological characteristics of a person. In the human sciences, general principles are formulated, mechanisms are defined, but an individual approach is needed in each specific case. This is what psychologists do.

One of the fundamental ideas of practical psychology of the XX century. is the idea of ​​the possibility of changing personality traits determined at the time of conception, birth or upbringing of a child. Alfred Adler in 1907 formulated this idea in the title of the book "A study of the inferiority of the organ and its mental compensation." Observing people with somatic defects, Adler became convinced that they can completely or almost completely compensate for these defects through training and exercises, but he also pointed out that the compensation process can take place in the mental sphere.

In modern psychology, it is changes in emotional states, the quality of attitudes towards oneself and other people, behavioral and cognitive stereotypes, and value orientations that are the object of research and the goal of the practical work of a psychologist. The way in which people independently compensate for the lack of emotional warmth, lack of knowledge and behavioral stereotypes, inconsistency with their accepted values, is often unacceptable from a social point of view and ineffective in terms of achieving a subjective goal.

Such an example can be the results of studies of uncontrolled purchasing activity conducted in 1996 in France (Lejoyeux). French researchers have shown that uncontrolled buying can be understood as "compensatory buying" that temporarily alleviates depressive symptoms. In a study by English psychologists (Babbage), the question of whether music can serve as a compensation for satisfying emotional needs was studied by comparing groups of students who studied music and psychology. A positive answer was received to the question of whether musical susceptibility is associated with the degree of blocked ability to close relationships in music students and a negative answer to the presence of such a connection in psychology students. That is, subjects experiencing difficulties in realizing the ability to have close relationships can choose for themselves an easier, but not effective way to compensate for this need - through music lessons; Freud referred to this process as sublimation.

An example of another result of the realization of a person's compensatory abilities is a study by American psychologists (Copeland, Mitchell), which studied the compensatory influence of the behavior of preschool kindergarten teachers on children whose relationship with their mothers was not warm and safe enough. Educators who acted in confidence towards children whose behavior was socially oriented and whose emotions were positive were able to partially compensate for the lack of communication with mothers for children.

The literature describes a case (Wilson) of amnesia in a 32-year-old man who survived a cerebrovascular accident at the age of 20. Due to the extremely intensive development of general intellectual functions, performing skills, perception processes, the patient was able to develop a sophisticated mnemonic system that compensates for most of the memory problems that arise.

With the development in the 80s of the XX century. such a direction in practical psychology as the psychology of health (the psychology of a healthy person), psychological science again faced questions about how to determine the result of a psychologist’s work with a client and what the work of a practical psychologist would be aimed at.

American researchers (Strupp, Hardley; Strupp) identified three areas in which changes are desirable as a result of the work of a psychologist: changes in social adaptation (B), changes in individual self-esteem of one's own state (W), changes in the assessment of a professional psychologist (S) (see Table 14).

Table 14

Methods of influencing the psychophysiological state of a person by influencing his muscular apparatus are quite diverse. These, for example, include special physical activities (charging, warming up, training), massage and self-massage, sipping after sleep and yawning. When an emotionally excited person convulsively squeezes and unclenches his hands, rubs his forehead or the back of his neck, drums his fingers on the table top, “plays with his jaws”, moves haphazardly “not finding a place for himself” from excitement, then in fact this subconscious self-regulation of the state is carried out through the impact on the muscles . Arbitrary ways to prevent excessive tension are well known: control of breathing patterns, attention (switching off, switching, dispersal), etc. These techniques are very effective. However, their impact on the state is limited in intensity and duration of the aftereffect. The complex method of self-regulation of the psychophysiological state - autogenic training (AT) - has been spared these shortcomings.

The German physician J. G. Schulz practiced the treatment of various neurotic disorders with the help of hypnosis and was well acquainted with the doctrine and practice of yoga.

He asked himself the following question: how, having preserved the therapeutic possibilities of hypnosis, make it available for independent use by patients? How to combine patient and hypnotherapist in one person?

Two observations made by Schultz while studying the diaries kept by his patients played a decisive role in the creation of the AT methodology. In these diaries, they described in detail all their feelings and experiences at different stages of the hypnosis session. This revealed the following.

1. During a hypnosis session, most patients consistently experience approximately the same bodily sensations. At first, a feeling of heaviness dominates (lethargy, unwillingness to move, numbness). Later, there is a feeling of pleasant deep warmth (tingling, slight burning).

2. Patients who repeat verbal formulas of hypnosis to themselves fall into hypnotic sleep faster. After a few sessions, they manage to independently induce a drowsy state similar to hypnotic. This was done by repeating some of the key phrases that he most remembered during hypnotization.

First, the patient's mental repetition of special verbal formulas is an effective means of self-influence. Secondly, the dynamics of sensations of heaviness and heat can be used by the patient to control self-relaxation. Later it was found that a feeling of heaviness occurs with a deep and complete relaxation of the motor muscles. The feeling of warmth is the result of a decrease in the tone of the muscles that regulate the capacity of blood vessels.

In 1932, the first edition of a book was published on the new psychotherapeutic technique of "self-hypnosis" (AT), which was supposed to help patients cope with emotional tension, personal problems and overwork on their own. The AT technique consists of two stages - the highest and the lowest. Only the lowest stage of AT gained wide popularity. This step has won recognition in different countries, first in the field of medicine, and then in sports, aviation and astronautics, and in production. Therefore, under the abbreviation AT, we will further discuss precisely its lowest level.

AT consists of seven sequentially learned exercises. Each exercise involves the impact on a specific organ system or organ. We list them (in parentheses are the sensations caused during the exercise):

1) creating a mindset for rest and relaxation;

2) deep relaxation of the motor muscles (a feeling of heaviness);

3) relaxation of the muscles of the blood vessels (sensation of warmth);

4) formation of a calming rhythm of breathing (feeling of involuntariness of breathing, changes in body weight in time with breathing);

5) removal of hypertonicity from the coronary vessels of the heart (sensation of warmth in the left arm and left half of the chest);

6) activation of parasympathetic nerve centers that ensure the restoration of the body's energy resources, in particular the activation of digestive processes (sensation of deep warmth in the abdomen);

7) elimination of hypertonicity of the muscles of the blood vessels of the brain (feeling of a slight coolness in the forehead).

All AT exercises are learned sequentially, one after the other. It is believed that on average one exercise requires two workouts a day for two weeks. It is advisable to proceed to work with the next exercise only when the previous one is fully mastered.

An exercise is considered mastered if the sensation corresponding to it is evoked quickly, is experienced clearly and is resistant to internal (extraneous thoughts and experiences, uncomfortable posture) and external (noise, light) interference. The AT training course is 3–4 months.

It is easier to directly feel the usefulness of AT in a state of extreme fatigue. It should be remembered that periods of maximum fatigue have regular daily fluctuations. A decrease in working capacity is noted at the following hours of the day: 0–2, 4–6, 8–10, 12–16, 18–20.

The duration of each individual training is determined by how developed the attention of the student is. The training continues until attention is freely and without volitional effort held on the sensations of the body. At the beginning of training, the duration of self-study AT can be as little as 1 to 5 minutes.

It is better to start an independent study of AT in comfortable external conditions (for example, lying in bed immediately before going to bed or immediately after waking up). Comfortable during the day are: silence and twilight in the room, freshness and coolness of the air (but in the absence of drafts), a chair with a high back and armrests. The chair should be moderately rigid: up to a certain limit, with an increase in the rigidity of the surface on which the body is located, the rate of muscle relaxation also increases. The position of the arms, legs and the whole body should be somewhat unusual, for example: palms placed with the back up; arms “thrown” behind the head when relaxing lying down, etc.

When mastering AT exercises, it is useful to use a soothing soundtrack. Currently, several sets of laser discs with recordings of diverse natural sounds are on sale: “Sounds of Nature”, “Natures Magic”, “The Sound of Nature”, etc. From the classical musical repertoire, the following are recommended for inclusion in AT exercises as a sedative: J. S. Bach Prelude in C major, Prelude in E minor; W. A. ​​Mozart "Night Serenade" (p. 2), Symphony No. 40 (p. 2), Violin Concerto in G major (p. 2), Symphony in A major (p. 2); L. Beethoven Pastoral Symphony No. 6 (p. 2), Romance for Violin and Orchestra in G Major, Romance for Violin and Orchestra in F Major; F. Schubert Unfinished Symphony (part 2); R. Schumann Fantastic plays, "In the evening".

AT exercises correspond to the formulas: “I am absolutely calm”, “My right hand is heavy”, “My right hand is warm”, “I breathe freely and easily”, “My heart beats calmly and evenly”, “The solar plexus radiates warmth”, “My the forehead is pleasantly cool. In the lesson, each formula is mentally spoken to the students (measured and leisurely) 6–8 times in a row with short pauses.

The actions recommended in AT to facilitate relaxation are quite simple: take a comfortable, maximally relaxed posture; if possible, discard extraneous thoughts; close eyes; focus all attention on the sensations from the body; pronounce mentally standard formulas (phrases) AT; imagine situations in which the desired sensation arose by itself in response to an objectively existing situation. Their examples are heaviness in the muscles after prolonged intense physical work; warming hands dipped in a bath of hot water or exposed to the rays of the bright summer sun; warmth in the abdomen, which appears in a person when he, chilled and tired, came from the street and dined with pleasure.

attention management lies in its focus on bodily (mainly muscle) sensations, in sequential switching from one part of the body to another. Focusing on muscular sensations drastically reduces the strength of external stimulation and thereby reduces the activation of the nervous system and, consequently, the muscular apparatus. Focusing on a specific part of the body (for example, on the right arm) enhances muscle sensitivity, helps to detect and relax involuntary tense muscles.

Pronunciation of verbal formulas consists in a mental measured repetition of phrases that are very simple in content. This action is most often associated with the concepts of "suggestion" and "self-hypnosis". In fact, the main function of pronunciation is to facilitate attention management, which is achieved by:

1) a clear indication of the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe body to which attention should be directed at the moment (for example: “my right hand ...”);

2) reminders of the nature of the sensation, which at the moment should be felt and strengthened, highlighting it against the background of all others ("... heavy");

3) “blocking” internal obstacles to relaxation: extraneous thoughts, images, experiences; softening the severity of the initially unusual “mental vacuum”.

Figurative representations consist in the most vivid and clear mental “vision” of such situations that would objectively tune in to peace and rest, and would also be associated with the experience of desirable sensations (heaviness, warmth) in life experience.

Thanks to the three actions described, first of all, there is a general decrease in involuntary muscle tone and, most importantly, relaxation of individual muscle groups, the tone of which is increased compared to other muscles. When experiencing emotions, among other things, a specific “pattern” of increased muscle tension appears. If there is an emotion, then there must be its “muscle pattern”. However, on the other hand, an emotion is only preserved when the body is able to respond with muscle reactions corresponding to this emotion. Without receiving muscle reinforcement, the emotion necessarily fades. Thanks to this regularity, one of the most important ways of self-influence on the psychophysiological state becomes possible: the elimination of an undesirable emotion by destroying its physiological basis. Through autogenic relaxation, the student erases the "muscle patterns" of his negative emotions, experiencing as a result calming effect.

During AT exercises, energy costs for maintaining muscle tone are minimized, brain areas responsible for conscious reflection of the surrounding world are turned off from work, digestive processes are intensively proceeding, which together leads to the fastest rest of the muscular and nervous systems and forms the basis recovery effect.

Further deepening of relaxation, a decrease in the level of wakefulness while maintaining elements of self-control and contact with the outside world favor the weakening of the critical attitude to information entering the brain, and serve as the basis for suggestion and self-hypnosis, which are effect of "programmability".

With prolonged use of the AT technique, some persistent psychological changes are also noted. The leading ones here include a decrease in personal anxiety and neuroticism, as well as an increase in emotional stability and the ability to self-control.

At the physical level, the sustainable consequences of using AT techniques include health indicators. As part of AT group sessions with production workers, they found: a reduction in the average incidence of workers by 35% in terms of the number of sick leaves and by 45% in terms of the number of days of work loss. The most pronounced decrease in the incidence is found in gastric ulcer, somewhat less in coronary heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases. Neuropsychiatric disorders decreased by 33% of the initial number in terms of the number of sick leaves.