Sports Vision by Dr Laby

This podcast explains how optimal vision is crucial for eSports performance, much like in traditional sports. Dr. Laby, a sports vision ophthalmologist, discusses dispelling myths about perfect vision and glasses, emphasizing the importance of basic vision components like sharpness and contrast sensitivity. The video also highlights the need for maintaining eye health through blinking and eye drops, tracking multiple targets, and t...

This podcast delves into the hippocampus, a brain structure resembling a seahorse, and highlights its crucial role in sports performance and visual function. Traditionally recognized for its involvement in memory recording, spatial cognition, and response inhibition, the podcast explains how the hippocampus is an integral part of the ventral visual stream, aiding in the rapid and accurate identification of targets in sports. Furthe...

This podcast focuses on the anatomical and physiological aspects of sports vision, explaining how the eyes and brain collaborate for optimal athletic performance. Dr. Laby, a sports vision ophthalmologist, describes the journey of visual information from the eye through various parts of the brain, including the occipital cortex, frontal lobe, parietal lobe, and temporal lobe, each responsible for different aspects of visual process...

This podcast explains that Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid was diagnosed with Bell's Palsy, a condition characterized by weakness or paralysis of facial muscles, usually on one side, due to a problem with the seventh cranial nerve. While the exact cause is often unknown, it may be linked to nerve inflammation. Symptoms, which include facial drooping, typically appear over 48 to 72 hours and can last weeks or months. Although th...

Think your body finished developing when you graduated high school? Think again. Groundbreaking research involving nearly 7,000 participants has revealed that your visual system—the same system that separates elite athletes from weekend warriors—continues developing well into your twenties. While you've been focusing on building strength and perfecting technique, your brain has been quietly rewiring itself to see and process the vi...

This podcast explains how elite athletes like Steph Curry achieve high salaries, focusing on the role of vision. The podcast uses Curry's multi-million dollar salary as an example to illustrate how optimizing vision, beyond simple correction, is a crucial, often overlooked factor in athletic performance. It details Curry's experience with keratoconus and the positive impact of corrective lenses, before describing additional vision ...

This podcast discusses the crucial role of the mindset in athletic performance, arguing that while vision is important, it's worthless without a strong mental approach. It highlights examples like Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka, showing how even top athletes can be affected by mental health challenges. The podcast then outlines four techniques for improving performance by optimizing one's mental approach: recognizing the "battle" bet...

This podcast presents an explanation of sports and performance vision, arguing that it's a critical specialty for everyone, not just athletes. Dr Laby, emphasizes that optimizing vision impacts all daily activities like driving and walking, as they require similar visual skills to sports. Sports and performance vision is presented as the overlap of the eyes, the brain's visual processing, and psychology, working together to improve...

Dr. Laby, a sports vision ophthalmologist with extensive experience, offers ten crucial tips for athletes seeking to maximize performance through eyewear. The podcast emphasizes the importance of a proper fit to prevent discomfort and slippage, alongside the need for impact-resistant and UV-blocking lenses for protection. Key features like a wraparound design, lightweight and durable frames, and an anti-reflective coating are recom...

This podcast introduces the concept of the amygdala, a brain structure vital for emotion and fight-or-flight responses, and explains its role in visual perception and decision-making, sometimes bypassing conscious thought. It describes the phenomenon of an "amygdala hijack," where this emotional part of the brain overrides rational behavior, citing examples of this in sports like biting, headbutting, and striking opponent...

Get the edge you have been looking for by applying SPORTS AND PERFORMANCE VISION to your game. Pros and elite athletes have been using this for decades (at least the 30 years I have been in the field). This podcast will explain how you can learn what the Pros know and how YOU can apply it to your sport for optimal performance. I can't' promise you a championship, but I can promise that vision won't stand in your way!

This episode explores the distinct visual and cognitive abilities of elite athletes. The podcast highlights seven key areas where these athletes excel, suggesting differences in brain function that contribute to their superior performance. These areas include enhanced motor perception, decision-making, precise motor actions, and the capacity for automatic performance. The discussion touches upon the long-term development of these s...

In this podcast, Dr. Laby, a sports vision specialist, discusses his work with Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold, detailing the vision training exercises designed to enhance the athlete's abilities. This training, documented in a Red Bull film, aimed to improve visual function, hand-eye coordination, and overall sports performance. Dr. Laby highlights a recent match against Newcastle where Alexander-Arnold executed a goal ...

In this podcast by Dr. Laby defines deliberate practice as a purposeful, systematic, and focused approach to training with a specific goal and steps, contrasting it with regular practice which is simply repetitive without a specific aim. The key to deliberate practice is feedback, which consists of measurement (metrics to track progress) and coaching (guidance on how to improve). The podcast illustrates this with an example of Dr. ...

Dr. Laby, an MD ophthalmologist and sports vision specialist, advises caution before starting sports vision training. He emphasizes that standard vision therapy may not benefit elite athletes with already good vision. The podcast highlights the importance of identifying specific visual deficits crucial for a sport rather than pursuing general enhancement with unproven benefits. Dr. Laby warns against unsubstantiated claims and the ...

Sports vision specialist Dr. Daniel Laby discusses optimizing athletic performance through vision correction. The podcast explores three key aspects of vision crucial for sports: seeing small targets, detecting low contrast, and processing quick visual information. Traditional methods like glasses, contact lenses, and refractive surgery are examined for their benefits and drawbacks in different sporting contexts. The podcast also i...

In this Podcast, Dr Laby introduces the fundamentals of sports vision training, emphasizing how eye-brain coordination can improve athletic performance. Dr. Laby, a sports vision ophthalmologist, explains that different sports have unique visual demands, highlighting the distinction between correcting vision to a sport-specific normal and enhancing already normal vision. The video stresses the importance of training visual skills r...

Mirror neurons, first discovered in monkeys, are brain cells that activate both when an individual performs an action and when they observe someone else performing that same action. Research suggests that elite athletes may have a more developed mirror neuron system, allowing them to learn and improve by observing others. However, the quality of observation matters; watching skilled performance in realistic contexts is more benefic...

This episode details six visual skills crucial for optimal tennis performance. Dr. Laby, a sports vision ophthalmologist, explains how improving visual acuity, depth perception, decision-making speed, visual anticipation, hand-eye coordination, and field of vision can significantly enhance a player's game. He emphasizes that these skills are trainable and are foundational for success. The episode promotes the importance of a co...