Something BIG is on the Way!

 

 

A BIOMARKER-BASED INVESTIGATION OF THE MINDFUL SPORT PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT PROTOCOL VS HEART RATE VARIABILITY BIOFEEDBACK TO REDUCE ANXIETY, IMPROVE ATTENTION, INCREASE FLOW STATE, AND ENHANCE PERFORMANCE IN HIGH-RISK SPORT (BIG WAVE SURFING)

 

Reference List

Attention!

Often, coaches yell at athletes, "DO NOT LOSE YOUR FOCUS!" 

Coaches agree that the most important skill is being able to pay attention to the right "thing" at the right time. However, athletes do not lose focus; they move their attention to sensations of the body or internal thoughts when they should be paying attention to the external stimulus or action from the opponent. 

According to Nideffer (1989), attention during athletic performance moves in four directions:

1. External—Broad: The athlete focuses on a broad (wide) area of the environment and assesses the situation. For example, the goalkeeper scans the field before a goal kick, the basketball player scans the court and searches for an open teammate to pass the ball, or the surfer scans the ocean for the waves swelling towards the shore.

2. Internal-Broad: The internal and broad focus would be on analyzing a range of internal activities, such as various strategies for gameplay. Or the surfer analyzing his position on the ocean.

3. Narrow-Internal: The athletes focus on their own self-talk and/or imagery rehearsal of the action that is about to happen.

4. Narrow-External: The athlete focuses on a narrow and external area of the environment, such as the target in archery or the tennis player preparing to receive the serve. The surfer decides where he/she will drop the wave.

The Pressure is ON!

"My Focus was all over the place!"

Attention, or let’s say the direction of attention previously described, is also influenced by levels of arousal, anxiety, and fear. Too little makes concentrating on a task relevant to performance difficult (attention wandering). If it is too high, the individual has trouble moving through the four quadrants and is easily distracted by noise. For exemple;

  • Persistent intrusive thoughts or excessive focus on breathing as a calming strategy suggests athletes are stuck in the third quadrant (preparing).
  • If athletes overanalyze their movements, they likely oscillate between the second and third quadrant analyzing and preparing).
  • External distractions, such as insults from the crowd, indicate they are shifting between the first and third quadrants (assessing and preparing).
  • Additionally, achieving  "Flow state" becomes impossible when arousal levels are excessively high.

Detection of Emotional States

Just as a blood sample tells a physician something about the physical condition of an apparently healthy patient, a sampling of heart rate tells the psychophysiologist something about the emotional state of an outwardly calm individual. It is the point of view here that behavior is the result of ongoing mental processes. Thus, observed behavior is not the equivalent of mental activities, because these activities are not always translated into motor acts. However, these mental activities themselves, although not directly observable, are behaviors. - Andreassi, 2007-

In the seconds preeceding performance:

  • Frequency power bands often are used to determine emotional and motivational state of athletes (Kreibig, 2010)
  • Decrease or increase in time between heart beats can be used to determine attentional states (Cooke, 2014; Lacey & Lacey, 1970; Lacey & Lacey, 1974)

Heart Rate Decelerattions (HRD) and Heart Rate Accelerations (HRA) as a Biomarker

Heart rate decelerations and accelerations are calculated based on the time difference (milliseconds) between R–R intervals of the PQRS complex extracted from the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal. The increase indicates Heart Rate Deceleration (HRD), while the decrease suggests that a heart rate acceleration occurred. 

Heart Rate Deceleration (HRD) is a reflex that occurs in the body when the individual is preparing to react to an external stimulus (it would happen in the Neideffer's 4th quadrant), such as being ready to respond to the serve in tennis or the batter prepared to react to the pitcher’s ball (in baseball). HRD was first observed around the '60s when researchers attached heart rate monitors to infants and recorded their reaction to peekaboo (Andreassi, 2007).

From the 80s to the present day, many studies have documented the occurrence of HRD or HRA in sports, comparing it across sports modalities, the athletes’ skill level, and the time during performance when it occurred. Nowadays, a sport psychophysiologist can analyze the data (R-R interval collected by heart rate monitors), the image of athletic performance, and the situation where it occurs to suggest improvements in the mental preparation of athletes.

To know more about HRD

Andreassi (2007) book "Psychophysiology; Human Behavior and Physiological Response" has two chapter describing heart rate Activity and behavior (chapter 12 and 13). 

New Biofeedback Device: Heart Rate Deceleration and Acceleration Measuring App and Software

The app/Software (the system and method for measuring mental states and predicting athletic performance) comprises other systems, devices, and algorithms validated in sports psychophysiology (e.g., Polar heart rate monitors). 

The athlete wears the heart rate monitor on the chest (Polar H10 or Polar T31 coded). Heart rate (R-R interval) data is collected with Bluetooth and ANT+. Athletic performance is video recorded. 

Heart acitivity is collected. Heart rate variability and R-R interval calculations are based on the difference in time of R–R intervals of the QRS complex extracted from the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal.

The app/software pairs simultaneous data from the video recorder (images of athletic performance) and the sensor/heart rate monitors (the R-R interval). 

The app uses Bluetooth, ANT+ technology, or phone signal on the smart watch to receive real-time data from the heart rate sensor and transmit it to the computer. 

The heart rate data can also be stored on the heart rate monitor/sensor and later downloaded to the software.

Event markers are added to the data that is being collected as the video is watched.

The time segment delimited by the event markers can be calculated using Heart Rate Variability analysis of HRD, HRA, SDNN, RMSSD, and LH/HF ratio.

Short-term phasic and long-term tonic measures of Heart Rate Variability are also used in sports to imply the direction of attentional focus in athletes (HRD and HRA validated measure), stress levels, and zone of optimal functioning during critical moments of athletic performance or the entire game (still exploratory). 

The system and method that offers real-time assessment of athletes' attentional and emotional states (HRD and HRA) has many advantages such as: 

  • Help improve the mental preparation of athletes.
  • Inform coaches and athletes of the individual's response during critical moments of competition.
  • Evaluate the efficiency of mental training programs.
  • Accumulate enough data to compare "Athlete 1" at his/her best to "Athlete 1" at his worst and personalize training programs.
  • Inform sports commentators of the real emotional states of athletes instead of allowing space for prejudicial guesses.
  • Use other short and long-term HRV analyses during real-time performance to inform trainers about athletes' physical and mental states of athletes.

Mindful Sport Performance Enhancement Protocol (MSPE)

Vs

Heart Rate Variability Protocol (HRV BFB)

 

Mindfulness (MSPE) 

The goal in mindfulness is to change the individual's perception of the stressors. 

Promotes the ability to respond effectively to emotions, even in highly stressful situations. 

Help the individual better allocate attention.

Promotes improvement in visual processing, working memory, and executive functioning.

Meditative practices improve attention shifting.

MSPE has shown that athletes improved in Flow, mindfulness, psychological distress, and emotion regulation.

Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback (HRV BFB)

The goal in HRV BFB is to change the individual's physiological responses to the stressors. 

Promotes emotional balance under stress.

Improve physical and emotional resilience.

Promotes better concentration and stress regulation.

Help athletes tune out distractions such as internal sensations and outside noise. 

Athletes develop more efficient breathing and can also save energy during performance. 

HRV BFB is often used together with other mental skills. 

Both Interventions

Promotes faster recover from physical stress.

 Improves paramaters that are related to better athletic performance; emotional self-regulation, attention control, anxiety.  

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