The Effects of Mental Interventions on Cardiovascular Activity and Sport Performance of College Athletes

Dr. Martin Kramar *¹

*Correspondence to: Dr. Martin Kramar. Canadian University Dubai.

Copyright

© 2023 Dr. Martin Kramar. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Received: 22 September 2023

Published: 30 September 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8429529

Abstract

This experimental study examined the effects of an eight-week mental training program on athletes’ cardiovascular regulation and learning ability of visualization skills for soccer related contests. A total of 56 college soccer players (NCAA Division III) were randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. The athletes completed measurements of cardiovascular activity (HR and BP) in four stations, which included baseline analyses, measurements prior to the juggling and shooting contests, and measurements in the recovery-resting phase after the contests. The results suggested that the mental training program generated positive effects on athletes in optimizing cardiovascular activity prior to and after contests (lowering the Heart Rate values) and improving juggling skills (59% improvement in touches and 45% enhancement in time). The execution of the exhale phase ( 6 seconds long exhale) through the mouth in order to initiate the Heart Rate Deceleration trends with positive self-talks before the sports specific executions was the crucial psycho-physiological factor for successful performance. This study offers valuable information about the Heart Rate Deceleration trends and Baroreceptor Reflex Mechanism during cardiovascular changes between HR and BP in sport performance.

Introduction

Sport psychologists, athletes, college and professional coaches have been interested in knowing whether breathing techniques with guided imagery would reduce stress and thus, improve sport performance in various competitions (Lovell & Collins, 2001; Mamassis & Doganis, 2004; Murphy, 2005; Watanabe et al., 2006). The significant problem was that many college or professional athletes, as well as coaches, were only slightly familiar with the positive applications of effective mental training. It appeared that many coaches and athletes concentrated just on the physical aspects in athletic preparation and underestimated the mental quality of a training. It was important to investigate whether mental training interventions should regularly be integrated into training processes in pre-game and pre-competition preparations or in post-game and post-competition recovery phases. Mental interventions might support the complete psycho-physiological approach to athletic training preparation that underscores the importance of the body-mind conscious inter-play as well as the unconscious interactions in training processes. This study examined whether an eight-week mental training with relaxation techniques and guided imagery would have a positive impact on cardiovascular regulation of college athletes when they were dealing with stress before and after soccer related juggling and shooting contests.

Previously, Brent (2004) and Morgan (2006) conducted research studies which investigated implementations of relaxation techniques, including breathing and imagery that generated positive effects on college athletes. In other research studies, Altman (2000) and Mcquown (2001) examined the effects of mental interventions by measuring heart rate variability and systolic and diastolic blood pressures, indicating positive cardiovascular changes in participants. Sosovec (2004) found there was a positive impact of imagery techniques on soccer college players who executed soccer penalty kicks in various contests. This mental intervention program combined breathings and imagery techniques that were utilized to reduce stress, optimize cardiovascular activity and improve soccer skills.

Considering the previous research, it was essential to examine, analyze, and evaluate how the mental interventions impacted the physiological functions of athletes regarding their cardiovascular activity which has been considered as the indicator of stress and anxiety reactivity (De Geus, Van Doornen, & Orlebeke, 1993). The measurements of heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressures before and after soccer related competitions indicated changes in the athletes’ psychobiological reactions within the autonomic nervous system in the parasympathetic and sympathetic activity (Charney, 2004; Du et al., 2005; Rossy & Thayer, 1998; Wolf et al., 2006).

This study presents a contribution to athletes who had to deal with daily sport-related anxiety and various stressors in demanding situations in the modern sport environment. Measurement of the athletes’ susceptibility to stress is a very individual matter, and it often requires not only self-reported questionnaires but also data from cardiovascular activities as the feasible indicator of general psycho-physiological responses in the athletes’ autonomic nervous system (De Geus et al., 1993; Iellamo et al., 2003). Contemporary college and professional athletes have often been exposed to acute or chronic stressors that have often caused a failure to adapt and cope with the critical moments in sport competitions (Pensgaard & Ursin, 1998; Tenenbaum, Jones, Kitsantas, Sacks, & Berwick, 2003).

Understanding the above mentioned assertions, athletes need to learn how to cope with emotions and symptoms of stress before and during various competitions as well as how to quickly relax and recover after the competitions in order to regain the psycho-physiological well-being. It has been important to examine how athletes may implement breathing techniques in practice, and thus, gain control over the stress, increased competitive anxiety, muscular tensions, and psycho-physiological burnouts (Anshel & Delany, 2001; Anshel, Jamieson, & Raviv, 2001; Anshel, Porter, & Quek, 1998).

To test these psychosomatic adaptations, special breathing techniques with guided imagery were applied to investigate the application of the holistic modalities in the practical setting of the sport environment. Modern mental modalities for athletes integrate cognitive- behavioral interventions along with holistic procedures such as autogenic training, concentration-meditative methods, breathing exercises, self-talks, as well as self-hypnotic and imagery techniques (Ford-Martin, 2001a; La Torre, 2001; Murphy, 2005). It has been known that relaxation interventions that combine the aspects of psychosomatic exercises generate a positive impact on the whole endocrine system, glands, cardio-vascular system, and metabolic functions of the physical body, which positively influence the whole autonomic nervous system (Baldwin, 1999; Heilbronn, 1992; Maheshwarananda, 2000; Perez-De-Albeniz & Holmes 2000; Tacon, Mc. Comb, Caldera, & Randolph, 2003). Thus, progressive relaxation methods should integrate effective combinations of the psycho-physiological and holistic aspects in order to balance the mind-body interaction with proper breath control, concentration, self-talk, and guided imagery (Gruzelier, 2002; Haney, 2004; Perez-De- Albeniz & Holmes 2000; Ray & Wiese-Bjornstal, 1999).

Mental imagery and visualization have integrated effective mental skills interventions that might positively shape the athlete’s cognitive as well as physical functions and abilities. Ford-Martin (2001b) explained that guided imagery generated a specific interaction between the mind and physical body which involved mental processes with deep slow breathing and visualization images for specific purposes such as healing, learning, pain control, or rehearsing. In particular, guided imagery became a flexible cognitive-somatic intervention and an effective therapeutic tool to enhance immune functions and reduce competitive anxiety and stress-recovery functions (Gruzelier, Levy, Williams, & Henderson, 2001; Murphy, 2005; Utay & Miller, 2006). Sport researchers found that guided imagery, in connection with exercise imagery and motor imagery, intensively sustained the athlete’s cognitive and motivational functions for trainings, improved memorization of movements and learning perceptions, as well as increased self-determination, skill execution, and game performance (Giacobbi, Hausenblas, Fallon, & Hall, 2003; Hausenblas, Hall, Rodgers, & Munroe, 1999; Holmes & Collins, 2001; Wilson, Rodgers, Hall, & Gammage, 2003).

The main focus of this study was the examination of psycho-physiological parameters in terms of cardiovascular activity and its relationship to stress before and after soccer related competitions. This area of the study might enhance our understanding of psycho- physiological methodologies in sport research, the impact of stress on the cardiovascular system, and the alterations in cardiovascular activity, including peripheral resistance before and after manipulated sport-related settings. Physiological research indicated that cardiovascular responses to mental stress included increases in heart rate and changes in blood pressure (Flaa, Mundal, Eide, Kjeldsen, & Rostrup, 2006; Herd et al., 2003; Iellamo et al., 2003; Ring et al., 2005).

The aim of these cardiovascular measures was to investigate whether physiological indicators such as heart rate and blood pressure might detect athletes’ psycho-physiological reactivity to competitions and their individual stress-related differences in dispositional competitiveness regarding anxiety arousal and stress recovery. On a theoretical level, the mechanism of the cardiovascular measurements explains that the lowered heart rate values measured before and after sport competitions should indicate the equilibrium of athletes’ autonomic nervous system, generating senso-motoric balance and mental resistance towards stress related symptoms (Achten & Jeukendrup, 2003; Mcquown, 2001; Väänänen, 2004). Thus, the monitoring of the cardiovascular activity and heart rate deceleration trends (HRD) should have indicated the effects of mental interventions on the soccer players in the experimental group regarding their adaptation to the stress and changes in autonomic responses within the peripheral reactivity and the baroreceptor reflex mechanism (Du et al., 2005; Rossy & Thayer, 1998; Carlstedt, 2007).

This study advocates the eight-week mental training program as an easily applicable preparation to the college training for athletes and contributes with some new findings to the area of the sport-science including sport psychology, psycho-physiology, and soccer training.

Methodology

Research Design

This study employed an eight-week pretest-posttest design that engaged 56 participants (NCAA Division III College Soccer Players) who were randomly assigned to either the experimental group or the control group (each consisting of 28 athletes). The participants in the experimental group went through the eight-week mental training program that synthesized eight (one-hour) mental training sessions utilizing breathing techniques and guided imagery. The participants in the control group did not receive any mental training.

Participants

The participants were 56 Virginia Wesleyan College soccer players who volunteered and completed pretest as well as posttest measurements. The experimental group consisted of 28 participants [15 women and 13 men with a mean age of 19.10 (SD = 1.13)]. The control group consisted of 28 participants (15 women and 13 men) with a mean of age 19.60 (SD = 1.10). The mean age of the men’s experimental group was 19.07 (SD = 1.03) and the mean age of the men’s control group was 19.61 (SD = 1.12). The mean age of the women’s experimental group was 19.13 (SD = 1.24) and the mean age of the women’s control group was 19.60 (SD = 1.12). The experimental group and the control group were not statistically significantly different in terms of age, t(54) = -1.57, p = .122. The participants in the experimental group were 39.3% freshmen, 28.6% sophomores, 21.4% juniors, and 10.7% seniors. The participants in the control group were 21.4% freshmen, 39.3% sophomores, 17.9% juniors, and 21.4% seniors.

A diagrammatic chart of the research design (see Figure 1) is presented below:

Figure 1. Research Design.

Materials

The physiological measurements of heart rate and systolic and diastolic blood pressures were measured by Omron HEN-790IT and 712C monitors. The results of the juggling (touches) with the soccer ball and soccer shooting accuracy on a specific target (goals) were written down in prepared tables. The meeting room, soccer fields, balls, and nets were available for the research at Virginia Wesleyan College.

Mental Training Interventions

The instrumentation for the independent variable was a mental training program that integrated eight (one-hour) mental training interventions spread in an eight week timeline. The first goal of these mental interventions was to teach the participants in the experimental group to enhance their awareness of their body-mind connection by executing breathing with concentration on the exhale phase which lowers the heart rate values before and after sport- related competitions. The second goal of the mental training was to help athletes improve their sport performance and develop their learning, perceptual, and motivational skills by utilizing the sport-guided imagery and visualization techniques.

Two licensed yoga teachers were hired as consultants to help conduct these mental interventions. The curriculum of the mental training sessions was systematically organized and each session was sensitively associated to the previous topic, synthesizing the aspects of the holistic modalities. The athletes in the experimental group learned how to visualize soccer related skills to improve performance and how to properly breathe with concentration on the exhale phase and self-talks in the critical moments before shooting and juggling contests to activate the heart rate deceleration trend. Specifically, for 10 minutes per day, they visualized how they were juggling the ball in the air and how they were accurately shooting (scoring the goals) to the right or left corner of the goal. In addition to the actual implementation of the mental program, daily diaries monitored the guided imagery and breathing exercises. These daily diaries were developed and handed out at the beginning of the experiment and served as proof that the participants were active during the program and did all the required homework.

Procedures

At the initial meeting with participants and coaches, the informed consent forms were signed and collected, and the participants were randomly divided into two groups.
In station one, the participant was measured twice, first in standing and immediately after that in sitting position for heart rate and blood pressure. The readings were taken in an air- conditioned room in order to gain the baseline-initial measurements of cardiovascular activity. Right after the initial measurements, the participant went on to the soccer field to station two where he or she was measured (in standing) for heart rate and blood pressure right before the juggling contest. Right after the measurements (a two-second limit allowed for removing the cuff), the participant performed the juggling contest (at most a two-minute interval). Right after the juggling contest, the participant went to station three, where he or she was measured (in standing) for heart rate and blood pressure right before the execution of the shooting contest (at most a one-minute interval). Right after the participant performed the shooting contest, he or she went back to another air-conditioned room (station four) and was measured (in sitting) for heart rate and blood pressure for the recovery-stress response. A diagrammatic chart of the pretest-posttest measurement stations is presented below (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. The Pretest-Posttest Measurements in Four Different Stations.

The soccer related tasks including the juggling test and the shooting accuracy test represented one of the measurable stressors related to sports performance in this experiment.

Soccer coaches assisted the players in two working places, in station two for the juggling contest and in station three for the shooting accuracy contest. The juggling contest (station two) required just a soccer ball and a timing device (a stop watch). A soccer coach timed a two-minute interval for the execution of juggling during which the player must kept the ball in the air using only feet (insteps), thighs, or head. The player would stop juggling if the ball was dropped on the ground within the two-minute interval, and the completed number of touches and time (in seconds) was recorded. The fear of dropping the ball on the ground represented the measurable stressor from the beginning of the starting moment of the actual juggling.

The shooting accuracy contest (station three) required a full size soccer net and targets close to each goal post into which the participants were aiming ten soccer shots within a one- minute interval from a distance point of 11 meters. In the posttest measurements the shooting distance was lengthened to 12 meters, and the targets were narrowed down closer to the posts. Each player was required to execute this drill at high speed in order to make a run to another designated spot on the field and shoot again (this was repeated ten times) in one-minute intervals. The running time, concentration, and accuracy of shooting/execution techniques represented the stressors measured from the beginning of the starting moment of the actual shooting. Immediately following the shooting contest, the participant proceeded (walking distance 30 seconds) to station four for the last cardiovascular measurements of heart rate and blood pressure. These measurements detected the stress-recovery abilities in the participant through cardiovascular activity measured after the soccer performances. A debriefing session was held at Virginia Wesleyan College where eight winners of the juggling and shooting contests received $20 Starbucks gift cards.

Results

Analyses utilized parametric inferential procedures including independent, one-sample t-tests and Cohen’s d- effect size. There were no statistically significant differences in the pre- tests for all the variables among participants in the experimental group and control group (see Table 1). This indicates that both the experimental and control groups were equal in all measurements at the beginning of the experimental study.

Table 1. Pretest Measurements-Cardiovascular Activity-Juggling and Shooting Contests.

Analysis and Evaluation of Findings

Station One Post-Test Baseline Measurements of the Cardiovascular Activity

In the measurements of the cardiovascular activities at station one, the baseline heart rate (bpm), systolic blood pressure (mmHg), and diastolic blood pressure (mmHg) of the participants were measured twice, while sitting and while standing. The standing baseline values (see Table 2) were compared with the cardiovascular measurements at station two (before juggling) and at station three (before shooting), which were performed in standing position. The baseline measurements of the sitting values (see Table 3) were compared with the scores in station four of the measurements of stress recovery, which was performed in the sitting position.

In the standing baseline measurements, the cardiovascular assessments revealed significant differences in diastolic blood pressure (mmHg) for women in the experimental group (M = 70.71, SD = 7.89) and the control group (M = 63.73, SD = 9.22), t(26.81) = 2.19, p = .037, d= -0.81 (see Table 2).

Table 2. Station One-Baseline Measurements of Cardiovascular Activity in Standing Position.

The baseline cardiovascular assessments in station one in the sitting position displayed no significant differences between the groups nor between sexes (see Table 3).

Table 3. Station One-Baseline Measurements of the Cardiovascular Activity in Sitting Position.

Station Two Posttest Cardiovascular Activity before Juggling Contest

The heart rate (bpm) analyses showed that there was a positive relationship between the participation of the men in the experimental group in the eight-week mental training program and the moderation of cardiovascular activity, t (19.86) = -2.38, p = .027, Cohen’s d of 0.96. The systolic and diastolic blood pressure (mmHg) values before the juggling contest in the experimental group and in the control group were not significantly different (see Table 4).

Table 5. Comparisons of the Means Between the Baseline Standing Measurements at Station One and Right Before the Juggling at Station Two.

Station Three-Posttest-Cardiovascular Activity before the Shooting Contest

The heart rate (bpm) in the experimental group (M = 69.69, SD = 13.36) and in the control group (M = 81.75, SD = 12.82) showed that there was a positive relationship between the participation of the men in the experimental group in the eight-week mental training program and the moderation of cardiovascular activity, t(22.95) = -2.30, p = .031. The findings indicated that the men in the experimental group showed lower heart rate (bpm) values before the shooting contest and thus, optimized their cardiovascular activity (see Table 6).

The systolic and diastolic pressure (mmHg) mean values in sex comparison found significant changes in women. The diastolic blood pressure (mmHg) mean values in the experimental group (M = 82.14, SD = 7.18) and in the control group (M = 75.80, SD = 8.14) were significantly different, t(26.92) = 2.22, p = .035 (see Table 6).

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