First for Africa: Cognitive training centre opens in Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg is proud to be home of the first ever “brain training” lab in South Africa.
Cricket franchise owner of “Last Man Stands” in Pietermaritzburg, Dr Doshen Naidoo, together with Jay Mannikam recently embarked on a journey to bring the first brain training lab in Africa to the capital city.
Brain training, also called cognitive training, is a programme that tracks one’s regular activities to maintain or improve one’s cognitive abilities.
It beneficial for all types of sports and schooling and it improves not only cognitive health but the emotional health of students as well.
This programme was brought to Pietermaritzburg by Simon Gologolo, a South African table-tennis coach, whose team experienced the training in Delhi, India.
The journey began as a cricket-focused academy under Naidoo and Mannikam, with a vision to create more game time and equal opportunities for both privileged and underprivileged children, as it is critical to their ethos that “all children deserve an equal chance”.
This vision rapidly grew into the Next Gen Peak Performance Institute, together with its advanced brain training technology that will be facilitated by Dr Guarav Sharma, CEO of Physio Karma.
There are three essential components to the brain training technological system: a headset, smart glasses and a brain sensing cognitive trainer machine. The headset uses neurofeedback technology to visualise what is happening in your prefrontal cortex in real-time. Smart glasses alert you when you are distracted, giving you a cue to get back into focus.
While being agile, fast and skilled can lead to success in the sporting field, a cognitive training programme, combined with cutting-edge technology, could be the game changer for the most physically gifted at professional and amateur levels.
Visualisation has long been a part of elite sports such as the Olympics, with coaches advising athletes nowadays to exercise their brains as fully as they do their bodies.
Both Mannikam and Naidoo said that both provincial and national athletes will be rotating through the facility with access to have both the on/off field training experience.
There are also ongoing partnership negotiations with the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture in Kwa-Zulu Natal. The president of the KwaZulu-Natal Sports Federation Association, Thami Mchunu, was also present at the launch and said that they welcome this new facility, which is both unique and beneficial for athletes, workers and children.
Naidoo said brain training was not a new concept.
“Brain training is not new. It has been used in various formats for over two decades. However, what the Next Gen / Physio Karma association brings, is the latest technology, individualised high-performance curriculum and objective results with weekly and monthly data driven performance analytics. It can also assist with ADHD, improving memory and concentration without medication.
“It improves communication, lessens anxiety and aggression in autistic persons and improves sleep and overall decision making. It also plays a role in corporate wellbeing by improving cognitive function and decreasing anxiety,” Naidoo said. — Witness Reporter.