Science Backed Pre Flight Rituals to Unlock Laser Sharp Paragliding Clarity: On Demand

Aninder: What is up everyone? Welcome back to another episode of Panic Landing Atlas podcast. I'm your host Anindya Singh and in case you haven't already done so, go do me a favor and smash that like and subscribe button and drop in a rating wherever possible. Because as mentioned earlier, these small acts of kindness from your end help us go a long way in reaching out to more pilots out there and eventually making the community a safer and a more fun place to be. Now, today's episode is based on my personal experience about running this podcast. You know, the other day I was reading a book called Start With Why. It's written by Simon Sinek. And

for those of you who haven't heard of him, he's a pretty amazing writer and a speaker in today's time. And this book is all about how great leaders inspire everybody to take action. And I thought that if I'm doing my own bit in the world of paragliding, then I might as well put in my best foot forward to make a change, right? So I've been trying to ruffle through the pages of this book on and off various days. And there's one thing that I found that when I read this book early in the morning, it's almost that I can lock in and focus in all my attention on absorbing

whatever I was reading. And this is very different from picking up this book later on in the day. For example, you know, when I'm taking a break from editing and the admin work around the podcast, like let's say somewhere in midday, it's so much more harder to focus. And this got me thinking that why is it so much easier to gather my thoughts and absorb everything so clearly first thing in the morning? And more importantly, what if we can replicate this state of mind during the out-of-flight when we go out and fly our wings? I mean, you know, be it chasing numbers during any regular cross-country flight, or be it while we are racing against other pilots in a PwC, or let's say when we

Aninder: have crucial decision-making like when to go for the lead points or which transition lines to pick. Like, mental clarity is paramount in our sport. So my curious mind got to work and I started digging the science behind it. And to my surprise, there's actually a term for it. And it's called as the perfect zone of clarity. You know, the thing is, in the mornings, our brain is chemically primed to perform at its finest. There's no mental overload. There are minimal distractions. And most importantly, the thing is that we all go through a set of rituals. I mean, consciously or subconsciously, it depends on the person. But from waking up to achieving this clarity, there's a set of events that

happens in a sequence. And I'll walk you through what happens and why it happens, and most importantly, how we can achieve this clarity on demand so that our subconscious and conscious minds operate in perfect harmony when we need them the most. You see, the first thing that happens is something known as CAR, and this is also called Cortisol Awakening Response. And I must clarify here that cortisol gets a bad reputation amongst a lot of people because it is known as simply the hormone which causes stress. But there's much more to it. And the thing is, a little bit of cortisol is not that bad. And that is exactly what happens first thing in the morning. There's a tiny bit of a surge in cortisol level which acts

as a natural wake-up booster from our body. It's basically like an alert system which makes us ready to tackle the day and gives us the energy for it. And then secondly, what happens is that there's something known as morning light alignment. And this is when the natural light starts entering our eyes. And this process, when it hits the retina, it triggers the release of serotonin and dopamine, you know, the famous mood enhancing and focus enhancing hormones that we all love. And then finally there's this thing called first moments and hydrations. These are the initial steps that we take after we wake up, which of course, you know, there's a no-brainer that they help make our blood move in the

body, which in turn sends more oxygen to the brain. And then the first sips of water that we take kind of restores the fluids and salts that we have lost overnight. So altogether, these events like the cortisol response, the light exposure, and the movement and hydration are essential in creating the peak clarity that we get first thing in the morning. And in paragliding, of course, mental clarity and physical readiness are both kind of critical to maximize the performance out there. So basically it boils down to mimicking these mental and physical states and most importantly the psychological triggers on demand as and when required. And here's an interesting thing. When I was

researching this, I came across a study which said that top athletes like Formula One drivers like Lewis Hamilton and a few other elite marathon runners as well they use this multi-dimensional approach to hit their peak zone no matter what time of the day they are performing. So this is super interesting because our goal is to simulate the brain chemistry and the conditions of this sharp morning so that be it 10 a.m. or be it 3 p.m., our mind is clear, focused, and emotionally ready to make it count. So here is how we bring this routine on demand before we go out for a flight or chase whatever is it that we wish for. Now the key here is to start somewhere between 90 to 120 minutes. So let's say one and a half to

two hours before we strap into our harnesses. So the first thing that we need to mimic is the light exposure. And the idea here is to try and step into the natural sunlight. If you're already there, then try and remove your sunglasses for a few minutes. Like, the whole point is to let the photons of natural light hit our retina, which basically is essential in resetting the brain and tricking our body into believing that it's going to be go time pretty soon. Now, one of the most important parts is hydrating and smart snacking. Now I'm using the word smart snacking because it's essential to not have an overload of food before going out to perform. Because what we are aiming for is a steady supply of fuel,

something which has got a mix of carbohydrates and proteins. Let's say, for example, peanut butter and banana. Perfect amount of fats is heavy enough to give you a constant energy source, but not heavy enough to weigh you down. Or oats or nuts, like this is your own choice. But the point here is to have a light snack, which gives us a constant source of energy over the next few hours to come. The idea here is to not overly rely on caffeine. Because of course, energy drinks like Red Bull or any other, like no hard feelings against Red Bull, regardless of the amount of crazy things that they do in the competitions. But the point here is that if you try and go in for a caffeine booster before you go out and

perform, There is a high time, which is going to come pretty quickly because the amount of sugar that these energy drinks have is pretty high. And then the crash that comes in when your body is recovering from all the sugar rush, if it happens mid-flight, then it can turn counterproductive. So instead of chasing liquid caffeine, I would rather say that there's a sweet spot of somewhere around 300 to 500 milliliters of water. so that we are able to replenish the fluids and salts up to optimal levels so that when we go out, there's no threat for dehydration. And now the point number three is gentle movement. And this one's kind of important because the whole idea here is to try and do

some mobility drills, like a little bit of stretches, you know, nothing that makes us sweat, but just enough to get the blood flow flowing. And boosting the oxygen to the brain is the key here. So take a brisk walk, just go out and stretch it out a little. The point here being that we will be sitting in our harnesses for the next few hours and before we sit in those positions, we have to be comfortable so that we don't have any pains and niggles or cramps coming up later on in the flight. And this is something that I've thought about multiple times because in conventional sport, there's a whole warm-up routine that we do before we go out and play on the pitch. But in paragliding, it's just like, yeah,

sit in the car, show up to the takeoff, strap in and go for it. And it can get pretty physical depending upon how the conditions are. But anyways, coming back to the topic, the fourth one, which is kind of an optional thing to do, I would say, because it depends on the person and how much they are into this. I like to call this as a focus ritual, you know, spending anywhere between five to 10 minutes This could be a quiet meditation pose or some sort of a visualization. Like you could picture your takeoff, the first thermal or the transition lines that you're chasing or the challenges that you might face in mid-flight or even your final touchdown. Like the whole idea is to mimic the visualization in

your brain to suppress the distractions and activate the prefrontal cortex. so that we are able to tell our mind that this is what's coming and we should be ready for it in the best possible sense. Now, I understand that visualization is a topic which can be dived deep into solely on a whole different level. And for that, the next week's episode that I'm going to do is specifically on how to visualize properly. So stay tuned for that one. But now moving on, this works wonders for me. And again, I would call this as an optional take because it depends on the person. Now what I personally like to do is and there's a little bit of science behind this as well is that taking a short nap like a 15 to 20 minute nap but bear in

mind that this should not be closer than 2 to 3 hours before the event. And the idea here is that there's a buildup of adenosine. Basically, adenosine is something similar to melatonin and it helps us go to sleep. So the thing is, as soon as we wake up, there is a gradual buildup of this thing. I don't want to get into the details because then we'll go off track here. But the point here is to clear the sleep pressure that has been built up until that time of the day and to reset with clarity. But the key here again is to first of all have enough buffer time so that you're

not able to overdo it because otherwise there's a chance that some people might wake up groggy if you sleep longer or for some reason you just take a lot more longer to get back into the activation of your systems right away after you wake up. So with that, I think I can sum this whole thing up into something known as a synthetic morning routine, I would say, where the first thing that matters is getting some light into your eyes, followed by correct amount of hydration and snacking. And then a little bit of movement, like limbering up to get in the zone. And then the fourth one for which I said, I'm going to dive deeper into the next week when I come out with the episode on visualization, especially

is a bit of mental preparation ritual. And then the fifth one is again, an optional one is the nap reset. But this has to be done at least two to three hours before the event, which is a bit different considering that the other routines have to be done somewhere between an hour and a half to two before the event. So now before we wrap up for the day, I would like to give you some insights from some of the elite athletes that I've known over the period of time. Because back home in India, I used to play hockey at a fairly decent level. I mean, you know, I never really got to play for the

country itself, so never wore the colors. But we still had quite a few professionals working with us, telling us what to do and how to do it. But let's say that if we are traveling for a competition and we have the matches that are going to be played at that venue at 5 p.m. in the evening. So for a few months in advance, or let's say a few weeks, I mean, probably the professionals who are aiming for the Olympic levels are doing this months in advance. Like the whole idea is that if a sprinter has his event at the Olympics scheduled for 8 p.m., then what they will do is that they

will start training for that race every day at 8 p.m rather than having their regular schedule of training at 4 a.m or like you know i mean that's a weird number but let's say 10 a.m or 11 a.m so the idea is to match your entire circadian rhythm to the competition times now the key here is that of course you would say that hey in paragliding everything is when the thermals start because that is when the day starts so there's no set point of time when there's a start gate opening But what we can do is, for example, let's say I'm going to Macedonia in a week and there's going to

be racing for seven days in a row. Like even though I'm not a part of the race officially, but I still hope to be flying in these goggles and learning and absorbing a lot of it. So my idea here is that if the start gate in Macedonia is likely to open somewhere around 11 o'clock every day, then I want to start doing these rituals and these pre-game checks at least nine o'clock. beforehand. So even when I'm not traveling to Macedonia, even if there's a week that is remaining for me to get on the plane and be a part of the whole ecosystem over there, I will still start

training my brain to getting into the zone at 9am so that eventually when I get there and it's go time, my brain is ready to perform at its finest rather than taking the first few days to just kind of warm up and absorb the atmosphere and then adapt to what the reality is. So the idea is that you visualize the reality that you're going to face later on and then your brain adapts to it much quicker when it actually happens. And another thing that I would like to point out here is that from my field hockey days, we were categorically told to avoid any kind of

overstimulation before the match because chasing adrenaline is going to be there when the event starts anyways. So the idea is to have very limited time emotional or social triggers or you know the caffeine intake like anything that gets us in a state of arousal because we're going to need all of that energy later on when we are performing at the highest level anyways so the point was to conserve the energy as much as possible and up to a point that Although field hockey was a very running heavy sport, you know, that we needed our lower limbs to be in their top shape because there was a lot of stress and load during the event. But why I'm trying to tell you this is that we were told to mostly sit or lie down so

that the lactic acid buildup in our legs is a lot less compared to other teams which were just walking around and going on for sightseeing. And I think this is also visible in some Olympic opening ceremonies where you would see some teams are skipping the opening ceremonies because of long standing hours and the whole idea is that the fatigue in the lower limbs can build up over multi-hour or multi-day events so especially in paragliding let's say if there's a world cup which is spread over like seven days in a row and you will be pushing bar at two three hours every day you would want to conserve as much energy as possible in lower limbs so that by the time it's day number four or day number five, you're not

risking getting cramps in your calves or just keeping your muscles as limbered up as possible. So the point here is to avoid cumulative fatigue that develops over a period of time. But anyways, with that, I think we have come to the end of today's episode. And I really hope you found these strategies useful. Do let me know in comments wherever you listen to if you have your own little pre-flight rituals or tweaks that we can share with the other audience members next time onwards. And next week, as mentioned earlier, we'll dive into how to visualize properly and make it count when it matters the most. And this Thursday, again, I'm not going to spill any more beans. But we have a banger of an episode

coming from Paddock Lighting Atlas Studios, as usual, coming your way. So stay tuned, stay excited, and I'll hope you like it.