ABSTRACT
In risk sports with medium to high risks of injury (e.g., surfing, free solo climbing, wingsuit flying), athletes frequently find themselves in unexpected and threatening situations. Elevated psycho-physiological stress responses to these situations might have tremendous consequences for their performance as well as for their long-term health. To gain a better understanding of the psycho-physiological response to such events, innovative, externally valid and standardized stress induction protocols are needed. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to introduce and evaluate a risk sport-specific stress protocol, i.e., the Heidelberg Risk Sport-Specific Stress Test (HRSST), which utilizes fear of falling as the stressful event. Climbing novices were asked to climb up a 12 m high wall. Then, participants were requested to "jump into the rope", leading to a secured fall of about 3 m. This imposed physical danger assumed to elicit psycho-physiological responses. Self-reported state anxiety, salivary cortisol, and heart rate/heart rate variability were measured before, during, and after the HRSST. Results of four independent studies that investigated the psycho-physiological response to the HRSST in 214 participants were analyzed, leading to conclusions about the stressor's effectiveness. Results showed that self-reported state anxiety consistently increased after the HRSST in all four experiments (moderate to large effects). The results of the physiological indicators were inconclusive. Salivary cortisol significantly increased after the HRSST in one of four experiments (small effect sizes). Although heart rate significantly increased during the "jump in the rope" in experiment 1, heart rate variability significantly decreased after the HRSST in only one of three experiments (small effect sizes). Findings suggest that the HRSST is a valid method to induce risk sport-specific emotional stress, but effects on physiological stress markers were rather minor. To sum up, in case of appropriate sports climbing facilities, the HRSST appears to be a cost-efficient and promising stress induction protocol: It offers the possibility to investigate risk sport-specific stress responses and their underlying mechanisms in climbing novices. These findings may also find application in professions in which individuals are exposed to risky situations, such as police officers, medical first responders, firefighters and military personnel.
ABSTRACT
Stress often has a negative influence on sports performance. Stress-induced decreases in performance can be especially disastrous for risk sports athletes, who often put their life at risk when practicing their sport. Therefore, it is of great importance to identify protective factors in stressful situations in risk sports. On average, risk sports athletes score extremely high on the personality trait sensation seeking. At the same time, theoretical considerations about dispositional mindfulness suggest that mindful athletes can handle stress more effectively. The main goal of this experiment is to examine the influence of sensation seeking and mindfulness on the stress response to a risk sport-specific stressor. To induce stress, 88 male students completed the Heidelberg Risk Sport-Specific Stress Test (HRSST) which utilizes fear of falling as the stressful event during a climbing exercise. Psychological (anxiety) and physiological (cortisol) responses were measured at multiple time points before and after the HRSST to determine the severity of the stress response. In reaction to the stressor, a significant increase in self-reported state anxiety, but no significant increase in cortisol were observed. The mindfulness subscale external observation correlated positively with anxiety in the climbing wall, sensation seeking and the anxiety scales after the jump correlated negatively and sensation seeking predicted anxiety subscales after the jump in hierarchical regression analyses. However, mindfulness did not predict anxiety measures. Neither sensation seeking nor mindfulness correlated significantly with cortisol levels. The results suggest that high sensation seekers perceive a risk sport-specific stressor as less stressful. The missing physiological response might be explained by the Cross-Stressor-Adaptation-Hypothesis and particularities of the sample. Good internal observers might be especially aware of their need of stimulation and new experiences, which in turn might explain the higher experience-seeking scores. Future studies should further examine the role of mindfulness in stressful situations and the interaction of its subscales with sensation seeking. The current experiment offers new possibilities for adjoining research fields at the interface between sports sciences, psychology and medicine: The findings can be transferred to high risk professions such as police officers, firefighters and military forces (e.g., for selection processes or for interventions).
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Sensation seeking is closely related to practicing high-risk sports. This domain offers individuals an opportunity to achieve an increased level of arousal. Moreover, stress reactivity implies interindividual differences in the capacity to respond to a stressor. The purpose of this study was to examine whether high sensation seekers (HSS) compared to low sensation seekers (LSS) experience lower levels of stress on a physiological and psychological basis. Stress was induced in a sport-specific experimental paradigm with a climbing task through a jump into the rope. METHODS: Two extreme groups (n = 28 male athletes) were examined in a mixed-factorial design (between: HSS vs. LSS; within: repeated measurements of several variables related to stress reactivity - cortisol, heart rate, anxiety). RESULTS: In response to the stressor HSS compared to LSS released a significantly lower amount of cortisol and needed less time for the climbing task. Heart rate and anxiety were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals seem to react physiologically differently to a sport-specific stressor, depending on their level of sensation seeking. HSS seem to be less strained, and seem to perform better. These findings might be relevant not only for the evaluation of (sport-) psychological interventions but also for other contexts (e.g., special forces).
