Starting in your mental pole position: Hypnosis helps elite Downhill
Mountainbike athletes to reach their optimal racing mindset
Abstract
Downhill Mountain Biking is an extreme sport requiring high mental
strength to perform on the best level in a competition with only one run
to win the race. The substantial challenge here is to control automatic
processes like competitive anxiety and stress. Hypnosis can address
these automatic processes. In our study, we developed and evaluated a
hypnosis audio-intervention to activate the optimal racing mindset. In
our study, 19 elite Downhill Mountainbike athletes registered at two
consecutive races of the IXS Downhill Cup. After the first race,
athletes listened to the hypnosis audio-intervention. In this
intervention, we instructed the athletes how to activate their optimal
mental state before the second race. At both races, we measured
competitive anxiety, stress, self-confidence, state resilience, and flow
with validated questionnaires and assessed resting heart rate
variability as a physiological measure of resilience. Race-related
somatic anxiety and subjective stress decreased significantly while
self-confidence increased significantly from first to second race after
athletes listened to the hypnosis. Heart rate variability was
significantly increased at the second race indicating elevated vagal
activity. When comparing race results of our participants to other elite
athletes competing in the races but not listening to the hypnosis, we
found that our study participants generally performed better in both
races. The study shows that our hypnosis intervention was effective in
reducing competitive anxiety and stress while increasing perceived
resilience and self-confidence: After a self-administered hypnosis
session, athletes were able to improve automatic processes responsible
for putting them in their mental pole position.