Conventional and Alternative Strategies to Cope With the Subtropical Climate of Tokyo 2020: Impacts on Psychological Factors of Performance

Abstract

The thermal discomfort caused by a hot or hot-wet climate can have negative effects on human performance. The 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games will take place in Tokyo’s hot and humid summer period, possibly exposing athletes to severe environmental stressors. In addition to technical, tactical, physical and nutritional preparation, Olympians and Paralympians need an optimal psychological state to turn in their best performances, especially in terms of emotional control, concentration and motivation. Yet, the tropical climate can have many negative effects on these factors. Better understanding of the negative effects of this climate and the strategies to manage them might be crucial for competitors, coaches and their teams in Japan. At the psychological level, cooling interventions before, during and/or immediately after exercise were mainly studied on perceptual responses. However, the effects of these interventions on other psychological components such as cognitive abilities or psychological states and the use of psychological techniques have been little explored, especially in hot-wet climate. Thus, this article proposes to take stock of the knowledge on the conventional and alternative strategies that help athletes to psychologically cope with the subtropical climate of Tokyo.

The Influence of Tropical Climate on Cognitive Task Performance and Aiming Accuracy in Young International Fencers

“…Hwang and Cheng (2007) observed that the Taiwanese (living in a hot and humid climate) have a high tolerance of humidity because they are acclimatized to it. It can be assumed that the participants of the current study were more tolerant of TC and experienced less NA probably due to acclimatization (Coudevylle et al, 2019). Fatigue can also influence task performance (Lan et al, 2011).…”

“…We therefore recommend ''maîtres d'armes'' (i.e., fencing coaches) to favor training in AC in order to preserve positive affective states and aiming accuracy, except when competitions in TC are upcoming. Indeed, in a mini-review recently published, Coudevylle et al (2019) evoked strategies to cope with the TC of Tokyo Olympic/Paralympic Games 2020. The researchers suggested the use of subjective strategy as cold suggestion and the use of objective intervention as cooling vest, provided that it does not disturb the athletes, during timeouts in duel sports in tropical environments.…”

“…Further research is needed to compare acclimatized with non-acclimatized athletes and to evaluate more precisely the influence of high hygrometry in aiming task performance. However, as recently evoked by Coudevylle, Sinnapah, Robin, Collado, and Hue (2019), we could suggest to consider acclimatizing athletes by conducting training sessions in a tropical environment before the start of competitions. Gaoua et al (2012) proposed that the subjective state of individuals is the main factor affecting task performance under conditions of heat stress.…”

If Motivation Was a Key Factor in Aerobic Performance in Tropical Climate?

“…However, first and foremost, this type of investigation can only be carried out on the basis of a thorough medical examination. Implementing psychological strategies to motivate athletes to keep up an effort can be extremely dangerous to their health, just as the administration of too much menthol can be ( Bain et al, 2015 ; Coudevylle et al, 2019 ). The priority of coaches should be to first take into account the athlete’s health and then optimize performance by improving thermal comfort through mental and objective techniques (e.g., pre-, per-, and post-cooling).…”

“…According to this theory, the brain plays the role of an effort regulator, anticipating and adapting instantaneously and continuously to ensure the effort required before the rupture of the physiological balance in the body. Thus, psychological parameters may come into play in the performance declines (see Coudevylle et al, 2019 ). The studies thus far that have focused on psychological parameters have mainly been oriented towards cognitive processes (e.g., reaction time, memory, and attention), perceptions (e.g., RPE, thermal comfort), or affect (see Robin et al, in press ).…”