The association between athletes’ vagally-mediated heart rate variability before training and competition and negative affect: a meta-analytic review

The focus on affective states in athletes before training and competition has traditionally centred on negative affect (e.g., stress, anxiety), often measured through self-reported questionnaires. This meta-analysis introduces a complementary physiological perspective, examining vagally-mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) as an indicator of cardiac vagal activity. Specifically, we aimed to clarify the relationship between vmHRV and negative affect in athletes prior to training or competition – a link that remains unclear in the literature. Following PRISMA guidelines, we included empirical studies that measured both vmHRV and self-reported negative affect at rest before training and competition. Eight studies met the inclusion criteria and were qualitatively assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Assessment Tool for Non-Randomised Studies (RoBANS). Meta-analytic results revealed a significant negative associations of 0.23 (95% CI: −0.409 to −0.028) between the High-Frequency (HF) and negative affect in resting conditions. This finding suggests that lower vmHRV (i.e., HF) is linked to higher levels of negative affect in athletes at rest and calls for further research on vmHRV as a valuable index for assessing athletes’ psychological states and potentially optimising their performance.