Mindfulness Training Improves Sport Performance via Inhibiting Uncertainty Induced Emotional Arousal and Anger

Review Article

Austin Sports Med. 2022; 7(1): 1052.

Mindfulness Training Improves Sport Performance via Inhibiting Uncertainty Induced Emotional Arousal and Anger

Gu S1,2*, Li Y1,2, Jiang Y3, Huang JH4,5 and Wang F3*

1Department of Neurology, the Affiliated Hospital of Jiangsu University, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 210023, China

2Department of Psychology, Jiangsu University Medical School, Zhenjiang, 210023, China

3Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610066, China

4Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor Scott & White Health, Temple, TX 79409, United States

5Department of Surgery, Texas A&M University College of Medicine, Temple, TX 79409, United States

*Corresponding author: Simeng Gu Department of Neurology, the Affiliated Hospital of Jiangsu University, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 210023, China

Received: November 03, 2022; Accepted: December 15, 2022; Published: December 21, 2022

Abstract

Mindfulness training has gained popularity in the scientific field, and has been proposed as an efficient psychotherapy for affective disorders. Mindfulness training requires the individual to pay attention to the good things that are happening “right now and here” and neglect the nervous uncertainty. Uncertainty (un-expectancy) plays a critical role in inducing stressful emotions during sport games, and mindfulness training is especially useful in calming the body peacefully for the athletes. In this paper, we will review experimental studies and propose theoretic speculations concerning uncertainty and emotional arousal during sport games. We first analyzed the effects of emotions on sports according to two dimensions (arousal and valence), next we analyzed the effects according to our previous three-primary-color emotional theory, which suggested that there are three prototypical emotions (Joy, Fear and Disgust). In addition, we proposed that anger might be the only basic emotion that can only be evoked by others’ behavior responses and directly affect sport performance. Furthermore, we propose that emotional arousal activates the sympathetic and norepinephrine system, while mindfulness activates the para-sympathetic and dopamine system. Therefore, mindfulness will activate the neural systems that are totally different or contrary the emotional arousal systems to induce peaceful mind. This review will contribute greatly to theoretical and empirical explorations of emotional regulations with mindfulness during sports.

Keywords: Emotional arousal; Valence; Sport performance; Anger; Basic emotions; Uncertainty; Mindfulness; Sympathetic system; Parasympathetic system

Introduction

It is widely accepted that emotions impact an individual’s ability to perform in an athlete performance [52]. In the field of sport psychology, the predominating explanation for the influence of anxiety on sport performance has been the Inverted-U hypothesis, which is originally intended to describe the effects of emotional arousal on sport performance [51]. Even though this theory is essentially true, problems are arising in that it did not pay attention to the individual difference. Thus alternative theory, referred as individual zones of optimal functioning theory, suggested that each athlete has different expectation about the situation, thus possesses different range of emotional anxiety at the same situation [35]. In addition, emotions with different valence might have different effects on sports with different arousals, and it is suggested that positive emotions are largely facilitative to an athlete’s performance, while negative emotions can impair performance [47]. Thus a clear understanding of the emotions is critically important to understand different emotional stimuli on the sport performance. This study will review recent advances about prevalent theories about emotions in last decades, and propose a possible systematic analysis of emotions on sport performance.

Recently, mindfulness training has gained popularity in the scientific field, and has been proposed as a common factor across all schools of psychotherapy. Mindfulness, which is the heart of Buddhist meditation, have given rise to many different mindfulness training programs, but all have the same way of focusing to present situations with an accepting attitude [59]. Mindfulness is characterized by sustained moment-to-moment attention to the present situation, including continuous immediate attention to physical sensations and affective states, with dispassionate non-evaluative and perceptible mental states [31]. Over the past 20 years, majority of studies have focused on clinical intervention studies to evaluate the efficacy of mindfulness- based interventions, such as the mindfulness based stress reduction program. Recently, mindfulness has been widely accepted and employed in different fields to cope with normal or significant stresses of daily life as well as sports games [22]. The more popular the mindfulness training in our lives, the more curious we are thinking about the underlying physiological and psychological mechanisms of mindfulness training. However, studies about the underlying neural and emotional mechanisms during sports are lacking. Mindfulness training is sure to affect the nervous system and physiological processes, and these studies can develop into a new field- mindfulness neuroscience to probe into the neural networks and neurotransmitters/ hormones involved in mindfulness training [60]. Some studies found that mindfulness training can activate autonomous emotional regulation, inhibit the sympathetic system, and activate the parasympathetic system [59], in contrast, emotional arousal has been proved to activate the sympathetic system [69]. Thus, this paper will specially analyze the effects of mindfulness on emotional arousal during sport games.

Basic Emotional Theory and Dimensional Theory

Emotions are internal states evoked by external stimulations, and characterized by induced physiological changes (mostly neuromodulator release), and response behaviors. Emotional studies in the last decades are prevalent with two contradict theories: dimensional theory and basic emotional theory. The dimensional theory suggests that emotions are continuously distributed in a quadrant which is composed of two dimensions (arousal and valence). And the basic emotional theory suggests that emotions are composed of a limited number of independent basic emotions. Some psychologists suggested it is a long time war between the dimensional approach and basic emotions.

Dimensional emotional theory: originated from Wundt [68], who proposed that emotions can be defined by three-independent dimensions: unpleasant-pleasant, calm-excitation, relaxation-tension [5]. Later, many psychologists found that two-dimensions (unpleasant-pleasant and tension-calm) are sufficient to define the difference among emotions. For example, Russell’s [53] proposed that all emotions can be arranged in a circumplex, which is anchored on a quadrant defined by two independent dimensions: hedonic (unpleasant-pleasant) and arousal (calm-tension) (Figure 1) [48]. The two dimensions are refexed on two features of stimulations: 1) whether they fit into our physiological needs (liked-disgust); 2) whether they happen as expected (Figure 1). In face of the external stimulation, we will get the sensational emotions: if it fits into our physiological needs, we will have the happy feeling; if not, we will have the disgustful feeling; this is reflected on the horizontal dimension (hedonic valence). If the stimulations happen as expected, we are clam; if the stimulations happen as un-expected, we will be aroused; this is reflected on the vertical dimension (emotional arousal) [28]. The vertical dimension can be named arousal and energy; while the horizontal dimension can be named valence or hedonic dimension [11]. Hedonic value and arousal are two core features of human emotions, and constitute the two dimensions of emotional quadrants (Figure 1). The different location of emotions in the quadrant represents different amounts of arousal and hedonic properties, which are named arousal dimension and hedonic dimensions [40,57].