Mindfulness (Mind) intervention as a psychological treatment is adopted in the sports field, its effect during competition has not been fully explored yet. This study examined the impact on cognitive performance following laboratory-controlled mindfulness intervention lasting 16 weeks. In a single-blind randomized crossover design, 90 college table tennis athletes meeting inclusion criteria were randomly assigned to either a control (Con) group or a mindfulness (Mind) group. The Mind group underwent a 16-week mindfulness intervention (8 minutes/session, 4 sessions/week) after training, while the Con group continued with life-as-usual at that time. Cognition, cerebral oxygenation, emotion state, salivary cortisol, and mental fatigue were measured at baseline (pretest) and post-intervention (posttest). Long-term mindfulness intervention significantly improved cognitive performance, e.g., attention concentrativeness, attention span, distractibility, instantaneous memory, short-term memory, long-term memory, supported by eliciting increased oxyhemoglobin concentration in the left and right medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). A better emotional state and a lower mental fatigue level as well as lower cortisol concentration were observed in the Mind group than in the Con group after the intervention at posttest. A 16-week mindfulness intervention can improve emotional state, reduce subjective fatigue, improve cognition and increase cerebral oxygenation. In general, mindfulness training is recommended for table tennis athletes during competition.
Qian et al. (Thu,) studied this question.
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