Melis Yilmaz Balban, PhD: Neuroscientist-Founder of NeuroSmart

Hard to believe that the NFL Season is just a few weeks away.  Netflix is getting us fired up by showing us a peek behind the curtain of the life of Superbowl winning quarterback, Patrick Mahomes.  I havn’t watched it yet, but its in the “Q.”   If you are not a football fanatic like most of America, then let me take a different angle on why paying attention to Patrick Mahomes might be good for cops.  

Patrick Mahones is a Whoop sponsored athlete.  Don’t know what Whoop is?  Simply put, It is a wearable technology that tracks wellness metrics.  Now, before I get too derailed, let’s keep it at this for now.  Whoop tracks many things, but one very important metric we should all be paying attention to is Heart Rate Variability (hRV).  It is a measurable data point that can tell you if you body is in a state of recovery or if your nervous system is stressed.  We have talked about it before on the Coptimizer Podcast.

Whoop partnered with Patrick Mahomes during his season and has published some fascinating data on Mahome’s stress and recovery throughout several NFL seasons, including the playoffs.  Training for a Superbowl is big business.  Look how much the NFL is worth these days.  Athletes are doing everything in their power to be ready for “gameday.”  This includes tracking biometric data to ensure they are “recovered” and optimized for when performance counts the most.  They are training like their careers depend on it.  Look at this one quote from Mahomes personal coach.

Stroupe tries to desensitize Mahomes to “free flow a movement to where it’s more natural and reactive.” Stroupe creates competitive situations in practice with just one rep or set because it forces the mindset that there’s no second or third shot at getting it right. “There’s a neural component to knowing that there’s no take backs” and consistently training like that prepares Mahomes for those moments.

This weeks guest on the Coptimizer Podcast is Stanford Neuroscientist Dr. Melis Balban.  She is also one of the founders and CEO of NeuroSmart, a wearable technology company that trains self awareness and self regulation for optimal performance.  

Granted, it would suck to get to a superbowl and lose because you did not perform at your best.  There may not be any “take backs” during a game, but the worst thing that can happen is you lose.  Then, there is always next year, hopefully.  

For police officers there are no take backs.  And in the worse case scenario’s, there may not be another tomorrow.  This is why we need to take a page out of the NFL athlete playbook and start using everything at our disposal to train like professional athletes.  To train like there may not be another tomorrow.

Dr. Balban recognizes the challenges that police officers face, not just from the external pressures on doing a very difficult job, but more importantly, the internal processes of human physiology that can impede optimal performance.  As the old saying goes, we can be our own worst enemy.  

This is why she and her team at NeuroSmart decided to do something about it.  They developed a wearable technology that can help police officers train to be at their best.  To recognize when they might be losing their edge so they can take active steps to stay on top of their “game.”

What is this technology?  Well, tune in and find out.  This is truly “game” changing and you won’t want to be the last department to find out what you have been missing.  

You can watch this podcast on our YouTube channel by clicking here.