{"id":70683,"date":"2016-02-05T13:27:31","date_gmt":"2016-02-05T18:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=70683"},"modified":"2020-09-23T13:25:53","modified_gmt":"2020-09-23T17:25:53","slug":"med-student-teaches-nasa-about-brain-balance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/med-student-teaches-nasa-about-brain-balance\/","title":{"rendered":"Med Student Teaches NASA About Brain, Balance"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a child, he dreamed of becoming an astronaut. On February 3, College of Medicine senior Pouya Shooliz served the space agency in a different way \u2013 by teaching several hundred NASA employees at Kennedy Space Center about balance and the brain.<\/p>\n

On the anniversaries of the Space Shuttle Challenger and Space Shuttle Columbia disasters, NASA is organizing safety presentations for its workers at the Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral. As part of that effort, Shooliz, who wants to specialize in neurology, taught employees how to improve their balance and how the brain analyzes each person\u2019s environment to keep them safe. He said the presentation was an opportunity to live out the tenants of The Good Doctor, a UCF tradition. \u201cAfter four years of learning in medical school, I can share what I\u2019ve learned, share my passion for the brain and help others,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was an honor to help a company in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The brain doesn\u2019t work in isolation, Shooliz explained. To maintain balance, it relies on the eyes and inner ears to analyze and make sense of the environment, by running a 3D \u201ccomputer\u201d simulation of the world<\/a> based on all the inputs it receives. To improve balance, he suggested strengthening the neuronal connections between your inner ear and brain by regularly performing these simple exercises:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Stand on one leg with your eyes closed. In today\u2019s sedentary lifestyle, we\u2019ve developed our eyes more than our inner ears in making sense of the environment, Shooliz said, so the inner ear needs a workout. Standing on one leg with your eyes closed puts your inner ear in charge.<\/li>\n
  2. People who move more have a better sense of balance. That\u2019s why past generations had more developed inner ears. As hunters, gatherers and survivors, they were much more active.<\/li>\n
  3. Take up yoga and tai chi. Certain yoga movements \u2013 especially the more challenging ones \u2013 enhance balance. And tai chi has been clinically proven to improve balance and reduce morbidity and mortality by preventing falls.<\/li>\n
  4. Practice \u201ctandem walking.\u201d Walk in a straight line, toe to heel, as police do when they are testing a person\u2019s sobriety. Do this walk while moving your head to look left and right. This improves balance.<\/li>\n
  5. Use technology. Games and Wii Fit competitions enhance balance.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Shooliz received his Bachelor\u2019s degree in biochemistry and focused his Master\u2019s degree on bio-nanotechnology at the University of Oxford in England. He worked with faculty members Drs. Stephen Berman and Michael Bellew, neurology and neurosurgery specialists, on his NASA presentation. It included animations and was so well received that NASA gave him a commemorative coin in thanks.<\/p>\n

    \u201cIt was exciting to see a large roomful of NASA employees at the Kennedy Space Center held in rapt attention as Pouya gave them an informative and entertaining briefing on the neuroscience of balance,\u201d said Dr. Berman. \u201cGiven our proximity to the Space Center, there is a great potential for mutual medical and scientific projects with NASA. We are fortunate to have students like Pouya who are eager to communicate their interest in neurology to those around them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a child, he dreamed of becoming an astronaut. On February 3, College of Medicine senior Pouya Shooliz served the space agency in a different way \u2013 by teaching several hundred NASA employees at Kennedy Space Center about balance and the brain. On the anniversaries of the Space Shuttle Challenger and Space Shuttle Columbia disasters, NASA is organizing safety presentations…","protected":false},"author":152,"featured_media":70684,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[5,6,12,17],"tags":[979,4361],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-70683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colleges","category-community","category-health","category-medicine","tag-college-of-medicine","tag-space"],"yoast_head":"\nUCF Med Student Teaches NASA About Brain, Balance<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As a child, he dreamed of becoming an astronaut. 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