Counteracting mental fatigue for athletes: a systematic review of the interventions.
Study Goal
The researchers aimed to review interventions, including mindfulness, to counteract mental fatigue (MF) and improve sport-specific performance in athletes.
Results Summary
Mindfulness was among the interventions found to counteract MF and enhance sport-specific performance, including strength, speed, skill, stamina, and perceptual-cognitive skills. The study highlighted self-regulation and attention resources as potential mechanisms behind these effects.
Population
Athletes in various sports (e.g., soccer, badminton, swimming).
Effective Dosage
Not specified
Duration
Not specified
Interactions
None mentioned
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
manipulations of autonomous self-control exertion | decrease | mental fatigue | athletes | - | counteract | #1 |
manipulations of autonomous self-control exertion | increase | sport-specific performance | athletes | - | improve | #2 |
person-fit | decrease | mental fatigue | athletes | - | counteract | #3 |
person-fit | increase | sport-specific performance | athletes | - | improve | #4 |
nature exposure | decrease | mental fatigue | athletes | - | counteract | #5 |
nature exposure | increase | sport-specific performance | athletes | - | improve | #6 |
mindfulness | decrease | mental fatigue | athletes | - | counteract | #7 |
mindfulness | increase | sport-specific performance | athletes | - | improve | #8 |
transactional direct current stimulation | decrease | mental fatigue | athletes | - | counteract | #9 |
transactional direct current stimulation | increase | sport-specific performance | athletes | - | improve | #10 |
selected interventions | decrease | mental fatigue | athletes | - | significantly counteract | #11 |
selected interventions | increase | subsequent sport-specific performance | athletes | - | improve | #12 |
The deleterious effects of mental fatigue (MF) on athletes have been carefully studied in various sports, such as soccer, badminton, and swimming. Even though many researchers have sought ways to ameliorate the negative impact of MF, there is still a lack of studies that review the interventions used to counteract MF among athletes. This review aims to report the current evidence exploring the effects of interventions on MF and sport-specific performance, including sport-specific motor performance and perceptual-cognitive skills. Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and SPORTDicus (EBSCOhost) were combed through to find relevant publications. Additionally, the references and Google Scholar were searched for any grey literature. For the current review, we included only randomized controlled trials that involved athletes, a primary task to induce MF, interventions to counter MF with comparable protocols, and the outcomes of sport-specific motor performance and perceptual-cognitive skill. The selection criteria resulted in the inclusion of 10 articles. The manipulations of autonomous self-control exertion, person-fit, nature exposure, mindfulness, and transactional direct current stimulation showed that positive interventions counteract MF and improve sport-specific performance in different domains, including strength, speed, skill, stamina, and perceptual-cognitive skills. The selected interventions could significantly counteract MF and improve subsequent sport-specific performance. Moreover, self-regulation and attention resources showed the importance of the potential mechanisms behind the relevant interventions.