The Influence of Cortisol, Flow, and Anxiety on Performance in E-Sports: A Field Study.

Background and Objectives. Most performance theories were tested under controlled laboratory settings and offer therefore only limited transferability to real-life situations. E-sport competitions offer a relatively controllable while at the same time competitive setting, and our aim was to examine different influencing factors on competitive performance. Design and Methods. Salivary cortisol was measured immediately before, after, and 30 minutes after a game of 23 computer players during e-sport tournaments. The players answered the Flow Short Scale, which consists of the two subdimensions "flow experience" and "anxiety" subsequent to their game. The performance was assessed by the result of each player's game (win or loss). RESULTS: Mean cortisol levels increased significantly during the game but response patterns were inconsistent. Winners and losers differed significantly in anxiety with winners showing higher anxiety levels. After dividing the sample into three groups of different cortisol response patterns, significant differences in performance and anxiety were found, with low to moderate levels of cortisol being associated with the highest performance and anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: A low to moderate physiological arousal and a simultaneously high level of anxiety represent a favorable state for achieving optimal performance during e-sports. Anxiety seems to exert a stronger influence on performance than physiological arousal.

Apps to improve diet, physical activity and sedentary behaviour in children and adolescents: a review of quality, features and behaviour change techniques.

BACKGROUND: The number of commercial apps to improve health behaviours in children is growing rapidly. While this provides opportunities for promoting health, the content and quality of apps targeting children and adolescents is largely unexplored. This review systematically evaluated the content and quality of apps to improve diet, physical activity and sedentary behaviour in children and adolescents, and examined relationships of app quality ratings with number of app features and behaviour change techniques (BCTs) used. METHODS: Systematic literature searches were conducted in iTunes and Google Play stores between May-November 2016. Apps were included if they targeted children or adolescents, focused on improving diet, physical activity and/or sedentary behaviour, had a user rating of at least 4+ based on at least 20 ratings, and were available in English. App inclusion, downloading and user-testing for quality assessment and content analysis were conducted independently by two reviewers. Spearman correlations were used to examine relationships between app quality, and number of technical app features and BCTs included. RESULTS: Twenty-five apps were included targeting diet (n = 12), physical activity (n = 18) and sedentary behaviour (n = 7). On a 5-point Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS), overall app quality was moderate (total MARS score: 3.6). Functionality was the highest scoring domain (mean: 4.1, SD: 0.6), followed by aesthetics (mean: 3.8, SD: 0.8), and lower scoring for engagement (mean: 3.6, SD: 0.7) and information quality (mean: 2.8, SD: 0.8). On average, 6 BCTs were identified per app (range: 1-14); the most frequently used BCTs were providing 'instructions' (n = 19), 'general encouragement' (n = 18), 'contingent rewards' (n = 17), and 'feedback on performance' (n = 13). App quality ratings correlated positively with numbers of technical app features (rho = 0.42, p < 0.05) and BCTs included (rho = 0.54, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Popular commercial apps to improve diet, physical activity and sedentary behaviour in children and adolescents had moderate quality overall, scored higher in terms of functionality. Most apps incorporated some BCTs and higher quality apps included more app features and BCTs. Future app development should identify factors that promote users' app engagement, be tailored to specific population groups, and be informed by health behaviour theories.