The Effect of Mindfulness Meditation on HPA-Axis in Pre-Competition Stress in Sports Performance of Elite Shooters
Mindfulness Meditation on HPA-Axis
Keywords:
HPA, Cortisol, Pre competition Stress, Meditation, ShootingAbstract
Background: Little has been known about the Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) axis response to pre-competition stress (PCS) and its response to relaxation therapies such as of Mindfulness Meditation Therapy (MMT) on sports population. In shooting sports good physical as well as psychological condition is highly demanded. Researchers have been performed on the psychophysiological responses of MMT on normal and diseased persons, but little has been done on sports population especially in shooters. Objective: The purpose of current study was to estimate the contribution of MMT on Salivary Cortisol (SC), a reliable physiological marker of HPA- axis response in reducing PCS, and its effect on shooting performance (PS). Methods: 96 male elite Shooters, with mean age of 29.5±4.3years were examined as in experimental and control (48 in each). Total duration of the study was five weeks, four weeks of experimental and one week study to determine the follow-up effect. Pre, post and follow-up data of quantitative phenotypic markers of HPA-Axis activity by analysis of SC and PS were analyzed. Results: Compare to control, experimental group has shown significant result, post-intervention (p<0.001) and in follow-up (p<0.001) in SC and in PS. Resulted in reduction of PCS level and increase in PS, whereas the control group has been shown non-significant result (p<0.05).Conclusions: Results indicated that relaxation therapies such as MMT may decrease PCS and will enhance PS. It is concluded that in four weeks of MMT has an effect on HPA-Axis by decreasing the level of SC as a reliable physiological marker of PCS.
References
2. Terry, P. C., & Slade, A. Discriminate effectiveness of psychological state measures in predicting performance outcome in karatecompetition. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 1995; 81(i): 275-286.
3. Stephen D Mellalieu, Richard Neil, Sheldon Hanton, David Fletcher. Competition stress in sport performers: Stressors experienced in the competition environment. Psychology of sport and exercise. 2009; 27 (7): 729-736.
4. Chamberlain, S. T., & Hale, B. D. Competitive state anxiety and self-confidence: Intensity and direction as relative predictors of performance on a golf putting task. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping. 2007; 20: 197-207.
5. Kais, K., & Raudsepp, L. Intensity and direction of competitive state anxiety, self-confidence and athletic performance. Kinesiology. 2005; 37: 13-20.
6. Swain, A., & Jones, G. Explaining performance variance: The relative contribution of intensity and direction dimensions of competitive state anxiety. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping. 1996; 9: 1-18.
7. Salvador, A., Suay, F., Gonzalez-Bono, E., & Serrano, M. A. Anticipatory Cortisol, testosterone and psychological responses to judo competition in young men. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2003; 28: 264-375.
8. Filaire, E., Alix, D., Rouveix, M., & Le Scanff, C. Motivation, stress, anxiety, and Cortisol responses in elite paragliders. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 2007; 104: 1271-1281.
9. Filaire, E., Sagnol, M., Ferrand, C, Maso, F., & Lac, G. Psychophysiological stress in judo athletes during competitions. Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness. 2001; 41: 263-268.
10. Haneishi, K., Fry, A. C, Moore, C. A., Schilling, B. K., & Li, Y. Cortisol and stress responses during a game and practice in female collegiate soccer players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2007; 21: 583-588.
11. Filaire, E., Alix, D., Ferrand, C, Verger, M. Psychophysiological stress in tennis players during the first single match of a tournament. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2009; 34 (1):150-7.
12. E E Solberg, F Ingjer, A Holen. Reviews of the literature, Recovery from a standardized exercise bout: a study on 31 runners practicing relaxation technique. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2000; 34:268-272.
13. Astin JA. Stress reduction through mindfulness meditation: Effects on psychological symtomatology, sense of control and spiritual experiences. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. 1997; 66(2): 97-106.
14. Chiesa A and A. Serretti. A systematic review of neurobiological and clinical features of mindfulness meditations, Psychological Medicine. 2010; 40: 1239-1252.
15. Chambers, R., Lo, B. C. Y., & Allen, N. B. The impact of intensive Mindfulness training on attentional control, cognitive style and affect. Cognitive Therapy & Research. 2008; 32: 303-22.
16. Ashcraft, M. H., & Krause, J. A. Working memory, math performance, and math anxiety. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. 2007; 14: 243-248.
17. Curry, D. G., Meyer, J. E., & McKnney, J. M. Seeing versus perceiving: What you see isn't always what you get. Professional Safety. 2006; 57(6): 28-34.
18. Fredrickson, B. L., & Branigan, C. Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought-action repertoires. Cognition & Emotion. 2005; 19(3): 313-332.
19. Most, S. B., Scholl, B. J., Clifford, E. R., & Simons, D. J. What you see is what you set: Sustained in attentional blindness and the capture of awareness. Psychological Review. 2005; 112(1): 217-242.
20. Kirschbaum C & Hellhammer DH. Salivary cortisol in psychoneuroendocrine research: recent developments and applications. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 1994; 19: 313-333.
21. MacLean, C.R., Walton, K.G., Wenneberg, S.R., Levitsky, D.K., Mandarino, J.P., Waziri, R., Schneider, R.H. Altered responses of cortisol, GH, TSH and testosterone to acute stress after four months’ practice of transcendental meditation (TM). Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 1994; 746: 381–384.
22. Tang, Y., Ma, Y., Wang, J., Feng, S., Yu, Q., Rothbart, M. K., et al. Short-term meditation training improves attention and self- regulation. PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2007 ; 104: 17152–17156.
23. Crocker, R R. E, Alderman, R. B., & Smith, M. R. Cognitive-affective stress management trainingwith high performance youth volleyball players: Effects on affect, cognition, and performance. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 1988; 10:448-460.
24. Brunner, E.J., Hemingway, H., Walker, B.R., Page, M., Clarke, P., Juneja, M., Shipley, M.J., Kumari, M., Andrew, R., Seckl, J.R., Papadopoulos, A., Checkley, S., Rumley, A., Lowe, G.D.O., Stansfeld, S.A., Marmot, M.G. Adrenocortical, autonomic, and inflammatory causes of the metabolic syndrome. Circulation. 2002; 106: 2659—2665.
25. Belmaker R.H., Agam G. Major depressive disorder. N. Engl. J. Med. 2008; 358: 55- 68.
26. Smith, G.D., Ben-Shlomo, Y., Beswick, A., Yarnell, J., Lightman, S., Elwood, P. Cortisol, testosterone, and coronary heart disease: prospective evidence from the Caerphilly study. Circulation. 2005; 112: 332—340.
27. Seeman, T.E., McEwen, B.S., Singer, B.H., Albert, M.S., Rowe, J.W. Increase in urinary cortisol excretion and memory declines: MacArthur studies of successful aging. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 1997;82: 2458—2465.
28. Coulter, H.D. (Ed.).Relaxation and meditation. In: Anatomy of Hatha Yoga: Body and Breath, first ed. Inc. Honesdale, 2001; 547–557.
