Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Benefits Psychological Well-Being, Sleep Quality, and Athletic Performance in Female Collegiate Rowers

Abstract

Factors such as psychological well-being, sleep quality, and athletic coping skills can influence athletic performance. Mindfulness-based interventions, including mindfulnessbased stress reduction (MBSR), have been shown to benefit these factors, suggesting they may, at least indirectly, benefit athletic performance. Moreover, while mindfulness training has been linked to better accuracy in some high-precision sports, whether it can improve non-precision elements of athletic performance is unclear. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of MBSR on psychological well-being, sleep, athletic coping skills, and rowing performance in collegiate rowers in a controlled experimental design. Members of a Division I NCAA Women's Rowing team completed either an 8-week MBSR course along with their regular athletic training program (Intervention group) or the athletic training program alone (Control group). Measurements of interest were taken at baseline and again either during or shortly following the intervention. In contrast to the Control group, the Intervention group showed improvements in psychological well-being, subjective and objective sleep quality, athletic coping skills, and rowing performance as measured by a 6,000-m ergometer test. Improvements in athletic coping skills, psychological well-being, and subjective sleep quality were all correlated with increases in mindfulness in the Intervention group. These results suggest that mindfulness training may benefit non-precision aspects of athletic performance. Incorporating mindfulness training into athletic training programs may benefit quality of life and performance in student athletes.

Psychological Resilience in Young Female Athletes

“…Mindfulness and psychological skills-based techniques have been used as means to promote athletes' mental toughness and improved performance outcomes [94,[97][98][99]. Training in mindfulness has been shown to improve stress coping among female athletes [100].…”

“…Mental skills training educates athletes on how to improve strategies such as imagery, self-talk, goal setting, and arousal regulation [93,102]. While these interventions may vary somewhat in terms of approach, there is evidence that both tactics positively impact athlete performance [94,[97][98][99]. In addition, the consistent provision of motivational feedback is important to encourage and inform athletes about what has been and is effective in developing resilience [21].…”

Relationship between Mindfulness, Psychological Skills, and Mental Toughness in College Athletes

“…Except for another cross-sectional study that observed the relationship between mindfulness and psychological skill, this study has also examined the alterations of mindfulness and psychological skills following a mindfulness-based intervention [ 9 , 42 , 43 , 44 ]. Vidic, St. Martin, and Oxhandler [ 42 ] found that ACSI-28 overall scores were significantly increased among NCAA women basketball athletes following a 10-session mindfulness training, and a similarly significant improvement was observed in concentration, self-confidence/achievement motivation, goal setting/mental preparation, coping with adversity, peaking under pressure, and a decrease in perceived stress following mindfulness training.…”

“…In addition, the qualitative results also found that mindfulness training increases awareness of the ability of mindfulness. Jones, Kaur, Miller, and Spencer [ 43 ] also adopted ACSI-28 to explore the effects of the eight-week mindfulness training for rowers, and they observed that the rowers improved their mindfulness level, exercise coping ability, and athletic performance. Similar results were achieved for handball athletes, who after an eight-week mindfulness intervention improved their coping with adversity, coachability, concentration, goal-setting, mental preparation, and freedom from worry [ 44 ].…”

The Effects of Mindfulness-Based Intervention on Shooting Performance and Cognitive Functions in Archers

“…Mental ability is one of primary foundations for successful sport performance (Kim et al, 2015), and mindfulness has recently been recognized as a novel aspect of sport-related mental ability (Jones et al, 2020). Mindfulness is believed to reflect both focus on and awareness of one's moment-to-moment experiences through a non-judgmental attitude (Kabat-Zinn, 2003;Creswell, 2017).…”