Hoffmann Nina, Strahler Jana, Schmidt Barbara
Institute for Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena, Jena, Germany.
Department of Sport and Science, Sport Psychology, Albert Ludwig University Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
Front Psychol. 2024 May 22;15:1334288. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1334288. eCollection 2024.
Downhill Mountain Biking is an extreme sport requiring high mental strength to perform on the best level in a competition with only one run to win the race. The substantial challenge here is to control automatic processes like competitive anxiety and stress. Hypnosis can address these automatic processes. We developed and evaluated a hypnosis audio-intervention to activate the optimal racing mindset.
In our study, 19 elite Downhill Mountainbike athletes registered at two consecutive races of the IXS Downhill Cup. After the first race, athletes listened to the hypnosis audio-intervention. In this intervention, we instructed the athletes how to activate their optimal mental state before the second race. At both races, we measured competitive anxiety, stress, self-confidence, state resilience, and flow with validated questionnaires and assessed resting heart rate variability as physiological measure of resilience.
Race-related somatic anxiety and subjective stress decreased significantly while self-confidence increased significantly from first to second race after athletes listened to the hypnosis. Heart rate variability was significantly increased at the second race indicating elevated vagal activity. When comparing race results of our participants to a control group of other elite athletes competing in the races but not listening to the hypnosis, we found that our study participants generally performed better in both races.
The study shows that our hypnosis intervention was effective in reducing competitive anxiety and stress while increasing perceived resilience and self-confidence: After a self-administered hypnosis session, athletes were able to improve automatic processes responsible for putting them in their mental pole position.
速降山地自行车运动是一项极限运动，在只有一次机会的比赛中要想发挥出最佳水平需要很强的心理承受力。这里的巨大挑战在于控制诸如竞争焦虑和压力等自动反应过程。催眠可以应对这些自动反应过程。我们开发并评估了一种催眠音频干预措施，以激活最佳比赛心态。
在我们的研究中，19名精英速降山地自行车运动员报名参加了IXS速降杯的连续两场比赛。在第一场比赛后，运动员们收听了催眠音频干预内容。在这次干预中，我们指导运动员如何在第二场比赛前激活他们的最佳心理状态。在两场比赛中，我们使用经过验证的问卷测量了竞争焦虑、压力、自信心、状态恢复力和心流，并评估了静息心率变异性作为恢复力的生理指标。
在运动员收听催眠内容后，与比赛相关的躯体焦虑和主观压力显著降低，而自信心从第一场比赛到第二场比赛显著提高。第二场比赛时心率变异性显著增加，表明迷走神经活动增强。当我们将参与者的比赛成绩与参加比赛但未收听催眠内容的其他精英运动员对照组进行比较时，我们发现我们的研究参与者在两场比赛中总体表现更好。
该研究表明，我们的催眠干预在减轻竞争焦虑和压力的同时，提高了感知到的恢复力和自信心：在进行一次自我催眠后，运动员能够改善那些使他们处于心理优势地位的自动反应过程。
