Effect of Brief Mindfulness and Relaxation Inductions on Anxiety, Affect and Brain Activation in Athletes

The athlete population has a high risk of suffering from mental health problems (e.g., anxiety), especially for athletes with individual sports. As such, various forms of mental training were used to maintain the mental health of athletes, such as mindfulness training or relaxation training. However, differences pertaining to the electrophysiological mechanisms resulting from both mental training in athletes are unknown. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to examine the differential effects between the brief mindfulness induction (MI) and relaxation induction (RI) on state anxiety, affect and the activation of the brain in track and field athletes.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Electroencephalography; Affect; State Anxiety
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Mindfulness induction (MI); Behavioral: Relaxation (RI)

Detailed Description

The purposes of this study are: (1) examining the effect of brief mindfulness induction (MI) and relaxation induction (RI) on anxiety and affect in athletes with individual sports, (2) and we sought to identify the different brain activity (i.e., theta, alpha) changes between MI and RI using EEG. In the present study, subjects were contrasted using a within-subject comparison across MI, RI, and control condition. According to past works on the comparison of mindfulness and psychological skill training, we hypothesized that MI and RI would both improve anxiety and affect, compared with control condition. Furthermore, we also hypothesized that RI would elicit greater theta power (i.e., more cognitive control) than MI. In addition, when compared with control condition, participants might be elicited greater alpha power during the MI and RI.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 35
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Taiwan
  • Taipei, Taiwan
    • Yu-Kai Chang, Ph.D.

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 25 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. track and field athletes with regular training
2. right-handedness
3. no history of neurological illness
4. no regular training experience in mindfulness or relaxation interventions

Exclusion Criteria:

-

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Mindfulness Induction; A brief and single session of mindfulness practice for 30-minute.	Behavioral: Mindfulness induction (MI); In the MI condition, participants were guided to focus on present experiences regarding the thoughts, emotions and sensations through the three classic mindfulness exercises (i.e., focused breathing, meditation, and body scanning). The duration of MI was 30-minutes.
Experimental: Relaxation Induction; A brief and single session of self-directed relaxation for 30-minute.	Behavioral: Relaxation (RI); In the RI condition, participants were guided to relax each muscle group following the audio for 30-minutes.
No Intervention: Control Condition; Open thinking.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
State anxiety	The Chinese version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (C-STAI, Wang & Chung, 2016), which is based on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI, Spielberger, 1970), was utilized to assess an individual's alteration of state anxiety before and after each experimental manipulation in current study. The State Anxiety Inventory (SAI) is a 20-item sub-scales in the STAI, with a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 4 (very much so) used for each item. Higher total scores indicate higher levels of state anxiety.	10 minutes
Affective state	The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) was utilized to assess an individual's alteration of PA and NA before and after each experimental manipulation in current study. PANAS is a 20-items questionnaire that consists of two 10-item mood scales assessing the positively affective states (i.e., PA) and negatively affective states (i.e., NA), respectively. Participants were asked to rate to what extent they felt a certain way right now from 1 (not at all) to 5 (extremely). Higher total scores indicate higher intensity of affective state.	5 minutes
EEG	The selected frequency bands were as theta (4-8 Hz) and alpha (8-13 Hz), the frequency bands were computed by averaged across epochs and integrated spectral power, the frontal region (Fp1, Fp2, F7, F3, Fz, F4, F8) for theta power, and posterior region (P7, P3, Pz, P4, P8, O1, Oz, O2) for alpha power were selected into the statistical analysis, respectively.	30 minutes

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: National Taiwan Normal University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 14, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 19, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): March 19, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 6, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 6, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): July 11, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 11, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 6, 2022
• Last Verified: July 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Mindfulness; Relaxation; EEG; Mental health; Cognitive resource
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Anxiety Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: PACNL_JT_MI_EEG

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No