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7 pages, 325 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Self-Esteem, Individual versus Team Sports

by Peter Šagát, Peter Bartik, Anja Lazić, Dragoș Ioan Tohănean, Vasilios Koronas, Ioan Turcu, Damir Knjaz, Cristina Ioana Alexe and Ioana Maria Curițianu

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(24), 12915; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182412915 - 07 Dec 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 5746

Abstract

On the basis of the integrative concept of self-esteem discussed in sport-related literature, various studies refer to its importance in the context of sports activities. Self-esteem is often understood as a personality trait because it tends to be durable and stable. No accurate [...] Read more.

On the basis of the integrative concept of self-esteem discussed in sport-related literature, various studies refer to its importance in the context of sports activities. Self-esteem is often understood as a personality trait because it tends to be durable and stable. No accurate description is available regarding the types of sports in which subjects participated. The main purpose of the research was to identify and compare the levels of self-esteem and self-confidence of athletes practicing individual and team sports. The self-esteem and self-confidence levels were measured by the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg 1979) and the Self-Confidence Test (Romek, 2000). All participants were males. Subjects were divided into two categories: 40 for individual sports and 40 for team sports. There were two evaluation periods: P1, the beginning of the preparation period, and P2, the beginning of the competition period. There were statistically significant differences for P1 (p < 0.002) and P2 (p < 0.003). The differences between the average values of the two periods were 5.8 points and 3.8 points, both favorable to the group of athletes who practiced individual sports. There were significant differences between the individual and team athletes in self-esteem level. Individual athletes presented a higher level of self-esteem. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Benefits of Physical Activity and Sport: Psychological and Cognitive Enhancement)

22 pages, 5897 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Single Bout of High-Intensity Cardiovascular Exercise Does Not Enhance Motor Performance and Learning of a Visuomotor Force Modulation Task, but Triggers Ipsilateral Task-Related EEG Activity

by Nils Henrik Pixa, Lena Hübner, Dieter F. Kutz and Claudia Voelcker-Rehage

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(23), 12512; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182312512 - 27 Nov 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2003

Abstract

Acute cardiovascular exercise (aCE) seems to be a promising strategy to improve motor performance and learning. However, results are heterogeneous, and the related neurophysiological mechanisms are not well understood. Oscillatory brain activitiy, such as task-related power (TRPow) in the alpha and beta frequencies, [...] Read more.

Acute cardiovascular exercise (aCE) seems to be a promising strategy to improve motor performance and learning. However, results are heterogeneous, and the related neurophysiological mechanisms are not well understood. Oscillatory brain activitiy, such as task-related power (TRPow) in the alpha and beta frequencies, are known neural signatures of motor activity. Here, we tested the effects of aCE on motor performance and learning, along with corresponding modulations in EEG TRPow over the sensorimotor cortex. Forty-five right-handed participants (aged 18–34 years) practiced a visuomotor force-matching (FM) task after either high-intensity (HEG), low-intensity (LEG), or no exercise (control group, CG). Motor performance was assessed immediately, 15 min, 30 min, and 24 h after aCE/control. EEG was measured during the FM task. Results of frequentist and Bayesian statistics revealed that high- and low-intensity aCE had no effect at the behavioral level, adding to the previous mixed results. Interestingly, EEG analyses showed an effect of aCE on the ipsilateral sensorimotor cortex, with a stronger decrease in β-TRPow 15 min after exercise in both groups compared to the CG. Overall, aCE applied before motor practice increased ipsilateral sensorimotor activity, while motor learning was not affected; it remains to be seen whether aCE might affect motor learning in the long run. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Benefits of Physical Activity and Sport: Psychological and Cognitive Enhancement)

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12 pages, 333 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Socio-Psychological Functions of Men and Women Triathlon Participation

by Joanna Poczta, Nuno Almeida and Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(22), 11766; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182211766 - 09 Nov 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1969

Abstract

Motivations to run marathons have been recognised by many researchers, but few have paid attention to triathletes. Mass triathlon participation is a new trend, which manifests itself as a human need to invoke strong emotions and seek them in difficult sports, as well [...] Read more.

Motivations to run marathons have been recognised by many researchers, but few have paid attention to triathletes. Mass triathlon participation is a new trend, which manifests itself as a human need to invoke strong emotions and seek them in difficult sports, as well as to travel to participate in such events. Therefore, the main goal of this study was to recognise the motivations to participate in triathlons among men and women respondents, and to evaluate the differences between them. The empirical research among triathletes (n = 1141) recognised the motives for participation in mass triathlon sporting events in accordance with four types of orientation: social, experience, factual, and result. Most important conclusions resulting from the conducted research indicate that women significantly more often displayed the will to feel unity and integration, as well as the desire to gain recognition in the eyes of others, as compared to men. For men, the desire to feel equal was significantly more important than for women. Both men and women indicated the desire to maintain good physical condition and health, which turned out to be a significant factor. For men, Group B—specifying the experience orientation, was deemed the most important, while for women the most important group of motives was Group D—specifying the result orientation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Benefits of Physical Activity and Sport: Psychological and Cognitive Enhancement)

9 pages, 599 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Role of Passion and Achievement Goals in Optimal Functioning in Sports

by Jany St-Cyr, Robert J. Vallerand and Léandre Alexis Chénard-Poirier

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(17), 9023; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18179023 - 28 Aug 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2612

Abstract

This study aimed to test the role of passion in the cognitive goals pursued in sport and the level of Optimal Functioning in Society (OFIS) derived from such sport engagement. A total of 184 competitive water polo and synchronized swimming athletes completed a [...] Read more.

This study aimed to test the role of passion in the cognitive goals pursued in sport and the level of Optimal Functioning in Society (OFIS) derived from such sport engagement. A total of 184 competitive water polo and synchronized swimming athletes completed a questionnaire assessing their passion for their sport, achievement goals, and various scales assessing their level of OFIS (e.g., subjective well-being, relationship with their coach, sport performance, and intentions to continue in sport). It was hypothesized that harmonious passion (HP) would be positively associated with mastery goals while obsessive passion (OP) would be positively associated with mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals. In turn, mastery goals were expected to positively lead to the four components of OFIS, whereas performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals should display less adaptive relationships with OFIS. The results of a path analysis generally supported the proposed model. As hypothesized, these findings suggest that HP leads to a more adaptive cognitive engagement in sport (than OP) that, in turn, fosters higher levels of optimal functioning. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Benefits of Physical Activity and Sport: Psychological and Cognitive Enhancement)

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15 pages, 365 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Association between Physical Activity and Selected Parameters of Psychological Status and Dementia in Older Women

by Angelika Cisek-Woźniak, Kinga Mruczyk and Rafał W. Wójciak

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(14), 7549; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18147549 - 15 Jul 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3187

Abstract

Physical activity has an unquestionable impact on broadly understood human health. One interesting issue related to this is the importance of movement on mental health and cognitive functioning. Research shows that regular physical activity improves the cognitive functioning of adults and people with [...] Read more.

Physical activity has an unquestionable impact on broadly understood human health. One interesting issue related to this is the importance of movement on mental health and cognitive functioning. Research shows that regular physical activity improves the cognitive functioning of adults and people with mental disorders. Regular physical activity can be an important and powerful protective factor in cognitive impairment and dementia in the elderly, and exercise is an important non-pharmacological treatment for mild cognitive impairment or neurodegenerative diseases. This study aims to present the impact of physical activity on selected cognitive functions in physically active women over 60 years of age. The research was carried out in a group of 110 generally healthy women from the area of western Poland over 60 years of age, who were divided into four groups based on the intensity of their physical activity. A pedometer (sport watch) and a physical activity diary were used to measure physical activity. Body Mass Index was assessed. Selected cognitive functions were assessed using the MMSE test, motor and psychomotor skills were measured, and Luria’s auditory memory test and recall test, a clock drawing test, and a GDS test were performed. There were statistically significant relationships between the level of physical activity and the effectiveness of cognitive processes. These results show that about 5000 steps a day is enough to see a positive effect on the mental health and cognitive functioning of this group of the elderly population. The women had an average BMI of 28.1 ± 4.7. BMI, indicating an overweight condition (over 30 kg/m²), was observed in 31% of women. The results of this study lead the authors to conclude that physical activity positively influences cognitive function and can be recommended for all seniors who do not have other serious comorbidities that would prevent them from playing sports. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Benefits of Physical Activity and Sport: Psychological and Cognitive Enhancement)

10 pages, 1134 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Effect of Structured Exercise on Short-Term Memory Subsystems: New Insight on Training Activities

by Giovanni Ottoboni, Andrea Ceciliani and Alessia Tessari

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(14), 7545; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18147545 - 15 Jul 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3602

Abstract

It has been shown that exercise positively affects cognitive abilities, such as frontal functions and long-term memory processes. We tried to understand whether different exercises (i.e., an open-skill activity, a team game, vs. a closed-skill activity, a circuit) might specifically influence different short-term-memory [...] Read more.

It has been shown that exercise positively affects cognitive abilities, such as frontal functions and long-term memory processes. We tried to understand whether different exercises (i.e., an open-skill activity, a team game, vs. a closed-skill activity, a circuit) might specifically influence different short-term-memory (STM) subsystems of working memory. We examined the effect of a single bout of open- and closed-skill exercises on three STM tasks (i.e., verbal, visuo-spatial, and motor) in children attending the 3rd and 4th classes at primary school. One group was tested before and after (T0 and T1) an Italian class (control group), one group before and after 30-min exercise on a circuit, and one group before and after 30-min of a team game. The control group presented no improvement. The open-skill activity improved short-term memory performance in all the participants at T1 (p < 0.001 for children attending the 3rd class, and p = 0.007 for children attending the 4th class). In contrast, closed-skill activity improved short-term memory performance in older children (those attending the 4th class; p = 0.046) at T1. Importantly, this finding was found in a school setting and might have ecological validity. Therefore, the exercise protocol here used might help to structure specific training activities for both normal children and those with learning deficits to positively improve short-term memory abilities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Benefits of Physical Activity and Sport: Psychological and Cognitive Enhancement)

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14 pages, 1316 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Effect of Sport Practice on Enhanced Cognitive Processing of Bodily Indices: A Study on Volleyball Players and Their Ability to Predict Hand Gestures

by Giovanni Ottoboni, Roberto Nicoletti and Alessia Tessari

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(10), 5384; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18105384 - 18 May 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2718

Abstract

To program proper reactions, athletes must anticipate opponents’ actions on the basis of previous visuomotor experience. In particular, such abilities seem to rely on processing others’ intentions to act. We adopted a new approach based on an attentional spatial compatibility paradigm to investigate [...] Read more.

To program proper reactions, athletes must anticipate opponents’ actions on the basis of previous visuomotor experience. In particular, such abilities seem to rely on processing others’ intentions to act. We adopted a new approach based on an attentional spatial compatibility paradigm to investigate how elite volleyball players elaborate both spatial and motor information at upper-limb posture presentation. Forty-two participants (18 volleyball players and 17 nonathlete controls assigned to Experiments 1 a and b, and eight basketball players assigned to Experiment 2) were tested to study their ability to process the intentions to act conveyed by hands and extract motor primitives (i.e., significant components of body movements). Analysis looked for a spatial compatibility effect between direction of the spike action (correspondence factor) and response side for both palm and back of the hand (view factor). We demonstrated that volleyball players encoded spatial sport-related indices from bodily information and showed preparatory motor activation according to the direction of the implied spike actions for the palm view (Experiment 1; hand simulating a cross-court spike, p = 0.013, and a down-the-line spike, p = 0.026) but both nonathlete controls (Experiment 1; both p < 0.05) and other sports athletes (basketball players, Experiment 2; p = 0.34, only cross-court spike) did not. Results confirm that elite players’ supremacy lies in the predictive abilities of coding elementary motor primitives for their sport discipline. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Benefits of Physical Activity and Sport: Psychological and Cognitive Enhancement)

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Review

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15 pages, 385 KiB

Open AccessReview

Repeated Sub-Concussive Impacts and the Negative Effects of Contact Sports on Cognition and Brain Integrity

by Michail Ntikas, Ferdinand Binkofski, N. Jon Shah and Magdalena Ietswaart

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(12), 7098; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19127098 - 09 Jun 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4445

Abstract

Sports are yielding a wealth of benefits for cardiovascular fitness, for psychological resilience, and for cognition. The amount of practice, and the type of practiced sports, are of importance to obtain these benefits and avoid any side effects. This is especially important in [...] Read more.

Sports are yielding a wealth of benefits for cardiovascular fitness, for psychological resilience, and for cognition. The amount of practice, and the type of practiced sports, are of importance to obtain these benefits and avoid any side effects. This is especially important in the context of contact sports. Contact sports are not only known to be a major source of injuries of the musculoskeletal apparatus, they are also significantly related to concussion and sub-concussion. Sub-concussive head impacts accumulate throughout the active sports career, and thus can cause measurable deficits and changes to brain health. Emerging research in the area of cumulative sub-concussions in contact sports has revealed several associated markers of brain injury. For example, recent studies discovered that repeated headers in soccer not only cause measurable signs of cognitive impairment but are also related to a prolonged cortical silent period in transcranial magnetic stimulation measurements. Other cognitive and neuroimaging biomarkers are also pointing to adverse effects of heading. A range of fluid biomarkers completes the picture of cumulating effects of sub-concussive impacts. Those accumulating effects can cause significant cognitive impairment later in life of active contact sportswomen and men. The aim of this review is to highlight the current scientific evidence on the effects of repeated sub-concussive head impacts on contact sports athletes’ brains, identify the areas in need of further investigation, highlight the potential of advanced neuroscientific methods, and comment on the steps governing bodies have made to address this issue. We conclude that there are indeed neural and biofluid markers that can help better understand the effects of repeated sub-concussive head impacts and that some aspects of contact sports should be redefined, especially in situations where sub-concussive impacts and concussions can be minimized. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Benefits of Physical Activity and Sport: Psychological and Cognitive Enhancement)

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