Having an optimal race with hypnosis: Efficient mental training with a hypnosis audio-intervention in professional Downhill Mountainbike athletes

We tested 19 professional downhill mountainbike athletes participating in two consecutive races of the IXS Downhill Cup. All athletes listened to a hypnosis audio-intervention at least one time after the first race. We instructed the athletes to use the personal post-hypnotic trigger to elicit an optimal mental state in the second race. At both races, we measured competitive anxiety, self-confidence, state resilience, and flow with questionnaires and assessed heart rate variability (HRV) as a physiological measure of resilience.

HRV data was measuared using the Polar H10 chest strap and recorded via the Polar Sensor Logger Application. HRV was analysed with Kubios HRV Standard version 3.5.0 Analysis Software. All data were analysed with R.

The original recording of the hypnosis audio-intervention is accessible via this link: https://www.nina-hoffmann.com/mental.