Enhancing BiomechanicsThe crux of the issue will revolve primarily around improvements made possible by an artificial heart. However, the rest of the ideas listed could show some promise in terms of increasing physical capabilities, however to a more limited extent. Blood doping has already shown potential to increasing athletic performance on a fairly grand scale, and thermal regulation has, as well. Growth hormone is much more sketchy option, as it increases size, and muscle mass disproportionately from this, however it doesn't always result in increased strength, and potentially has the largest amount of drawbacks. It also might clash with other improvements, changing the bodies proportions and making it difficult to apply certain mechanical abilities, or making the performance of the athlete worse by changing their performance.
In any case, below are some general ideas for enhancing athletic performance, with currently available modern technology. While obviously, certain athletes would still be worse regardless of enhancements, it could be what pushes the equivalent of Olympic athletes to the next level, or at least improves their capabilities somewhat. Many forms of these improvements would be or already are illegal in professional athletic events, but for these experiments, sheer improvement of athletic performance, as long as the side effects are not too adverse, will be considered for their potential in general.
Artificial HeartAn artificial heart could be beneficial for a lot of reasons, but primarily, it would work to take the stress off of the heart and place it onto a machine which could afford to do considerably more work, would allow blood to be pumped much faster on a much longer basis without as many issues, perhaps even out doing the heart, and could operate in a manner which would reduce the blood pressure of the user to virtually nothing, allowing for far greater blood transportation throughout the body. By utilizing longer, more steady pulses, instead of constant rhythmic thumping, it's not only possible to reduce blood pressure of the host, but reduce it to practically nothing.
Artificial hearts without constant pumping have been shown to reduce blood pressure and it's effects. Using a 10,000 RPM turbine pump, instead of a system more similar to an actual human heart, which is more like to expanding balloons. [
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3] The heart not only is simpler in design, but lasts longer as well, as it doesn't attempt to mimic the highly inefficient heart. Organic tissue naturally repairs itself over time, making designs which wear out easily less of an issue, as they are constantly replenished on a microscopic level with nutrients, and the bodies system of capillaries, digestion, blood vessels, and so on helps to feed directly into these systems. Human mechanical structures are often made of inorganic materials, that don't absorb nutrients, repair themselves, or do more than physically serve as a place holder for something; relatively homogeneous, most mechanical designs are simple in operation and function, limiting their capabilities, particularly in relation to organic structures. Rather than trying to imitate a heart, creating a completely new kind of pump to do the same type of operation not only reduces the mechanical limitations, but can also serve as an improvement over regular hearts.
Obviously, being able to increase the heart rate can have several advantages in it's own right; by having 5 times the circulation rate of resting levels, such as the equivalent of a 350 BPM heart rate, compared to a resting rate of 70 beats per minute, increased athletic performance would be more than possible. It's no secret than when exposed to stressful events, human heart rates increase; during jogging or running periods, the heart rate will increase, or during any strenuous exercise, from 1.5 to even 3 times higher. [
4] This can place strain on the heart, and having the equivalent of an "adrenaline rush" 24/7 would not only likely be impossible, but kill the individual if they tried, and would wear out the heart significantly faster. But by placing this work on to a machine which can much more easily replaced, the heart rate could be increased to levels that would otherwise be physically impossible without it, and maintain it constantly, meaning that the individual could be at their peak levels of performance constantly, drastically increasing their endurance. A key factor in determining endurance and health in general is the state of an individual's heart, and by simply increasing the ability to pump blood, one could drastically increase an athlete's ability to preform. Obviously, other limitations, such as blood diffusion rates with oxygen and nutrients, blood cleansing rates to remove waste, the ability of other organs such as the lungs or kidneys to provide oxygen or remove waste, the ability of the digestive system to absorb calories to be used in athletic events, the ability for the body to handle the stresses of the exercises involved, the fact some forms of exercise such as sprinting draw into burst energy reserves and wouldn't be impacted much by increased oxygen and blood flow, and blood pressure itself could all impact performance. The lungs can only absorb so much oxygen, the body can only absorb so many calories at any given time, and thus athletic performance is not determined by heart rate alone. However, as people are shown to benefit at higher blood circulation levels during exercise, maintaining this could increase athletic abilities significantly.
By producing close no blood pressure, increased blood circulation rates are possible without overstressing the arteries and veins of the individual.
Coronary Artery disease is the
leading cause of death in developed worlds, primarily caused by artery hardening due to increased stress caused by increased pressure on arteries and veins. Furthermore, increased blood pressure in general could increase the chance of blood vessels rupturing or being damaged, which could result in even catastrophic organ failure. By utilizing such a low blood pressure, in a system nearly absent of it, the artificial heart could pump blood in such a way that what would ordinarily result in 10 times the blood pressure in arteries and veins, being at extremely dangerous levels of a burst vein or artery, would produce not only tolerable blood pressure levels, but levels that were nearly absent. Arteries and veins can only handle approximately .8 to 1.2 PSI of pressure, however artificial hearts could reduce the constant pressure to almost nothing. It is therefore conceivable that an artificial heart designed to increase the virtual heart rate of a user by 5-10 times the amount could be done without producing many negative side effects.
While more reasonable and practical levels are likely more appropriate, the potential of such a system leads to the idea that whatever the theoretical maximum heart rate the body could withstand could not only be achieved, but maintained constantly, with few if any medical complications. The general design would use a pace maker to keep the heart at low, but not non-existent levels, to prevent it from atrophying (say a half an 1/10th of normal heart rate levels), and then the artificial heart would pump blood through the body and heart at increased rates, relying on the heart to filter oxygenated and unoxegnyetated blood, or providing a feature for this specific ability, as well. By removing a need for the heart to sense increased adrenaline levels and other hormones, by simply beating so quickly, many other features of the heart could be replaced or ignored as well, the simplicity of the system being that it simply beats so fast it doesn't need to change in pace to match current exercise levels. As long as the heart outpaced any of the abilities of the user, which it likely easily could, there would be no fear of a person exerting themselves past what the heart could handle, like in most artificial hearts. In addition, rather than increasing the circulation speed solely, more blood could be used to allow for greater diffusion rates, thus allowing more oxygen to be stored. While this increased viscosity of blood, such as having 5 times as many blood cells could ordinarily result in severe problems regarding the heart, with the artificial heart, these problems could be all but eliminated.
Blood Doping - More BloodA primary advantage of an artificial heart would be to increase the ability for the body to circulate blood; while this could result in faster circulation speeds, the same energy required to make blood pump faster, could instead be used to pump more blood. While there would obviously be a limit to this, with no actual stresses placed on the heart, or noticeable increase in blood pressure, blood levels could increase drastically beyond normal, safe levels. A person could benefit from having more blood in all the ways imaginable without the key side effects being present. While there is going to be a maximum diffusion limit available, such as if 100 times the blood saturated the lungs, only a percentage of that could be absorbed by the lungs at ordinary respiratory rates, it is already been proven that increased circulation and increased blood volume can take the strain off of these organs. In essence, while there would be a limit, organ performance can improved with greater blood saturation alone, and as such for example engorging the lungs in more blood could result in more oxygen in the body, even if the lungs themselves did not otherwise increase in respiration rate. This would allow a much simpler increase in athletic performance; rather than needing to replace every organ in the human body, more blood could be given to an individual, which would take the strain off of the organs.
Blood doping would most likely be the preffered method for this. While high altitude training has been shown to be capable of increasing blood volume, it's effects are riskier and turned by exposure to low oxygen conditions, which by themselves, can be dangerous, especially without proper supervision. It would require the user to always be within range of an appropriate sleep pod and possess and doctors and other medical personnel to examine them at all times ot increase oxygen when necessary (such as if a person suddenly began breathing heavy, due to being shocked or experiencing a nightmare), in order to prevent asphyxiation and it's resulting issues. Exposure to low altitude conditions for extended periods of time could begin to reverse the advantage of high altitude training, thus mitigating the advantage, and requiring that the individual be at high altitudes at all time, limiting the usefulness of this. In addition, the individual would spend long periods of time in low oxygen conditions, which would by itself reduce performance and increase recovery times, also constantly stressing the individual's respiratory and circulatory systems.
Blood doping seems like a more feasible option, as as simply taking taking a pill could increase blood volume. A fairly straightforward proccess,
EPO, or Erythropoietin, is a protein which, once absorbed, increases blood volume proportionally to the amount given. No known side effects to EPO exist outside of those related to increased blood volume (increased blood pressure and viscosity, increased iron absoprtion in the creation of new blood cells, etc.), other than greater than predicted increased nueroregenerative and protective effects, which are seen as a good thing. It would depend only on the amount of protein taken, rather than a need to sleep in an expensive and impractical hypobaric chamber.
Blood doping, by itself, has already been shown to increase athletic performance. Most notably, Lance Armstrong admittingly blood doped, and mimicked the effect via hypobaric chambers later in his career. Called "
blood doping", the increase in blood cell production allows for greater oxygen and nutrient absorption than ordinary. Because such blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to the muscles, nutrients from the digestive system or reserve areas, increase blood filtration levels through the kidney and livers, and generally increase the output of many organs in the body, a higher concentration in the blood can improve an athlete’s aerobic capacity (VO2 max) and endurance, nearly proportional to the amount of blood increased. Simply increasing blood capacity can increase performance in many organs, such as the lungs, without increasing the stress of the lungs. With the added stress of extra circulation added to the artificial heart, instead of the ordinary heart, the problems ordinarily associated with this can largely be eliminated, thus opening up new options.
Oxygen Concentrator It's a simple fact that more oxygen mean increased athletic performance; the body needs constant supply of oxygen to function, and more oxygen, such as by breathing faster, can increase the bodies ability to function.
Glycolysis, or the process of
Thermal RegulationGrowth HormoneExoskeleton Ceramic/titanium joint improvementPower source - RTG's
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