Abstract
BackgroundNicotine is beneficial to mood, arousal and cognition in humans. Due to the importance of cognitive functioning for archery athletes, we investigated the effects of nicotine supplementation on the cognitive abilities, heart rate variability (HRV), and sport performance of professional archers.MethodsEleven college archers were recruited and given 2 mg of nicotine supplementation (NIC group) and placebo (PLA group) in a crossover design.ResultsThe results showed that at 30 min after the intake of nicotine gum, the “correct rejection” time in the NIC group was significantly lower than that of the PLA group (7.29 ± 0.87 vs. 8.23 ± 0.98 msec, p < 0.05). In addition, the NIC group completed the grooved pegboard test in a shorter time than the PLA group (48.76 ± 3.18 vs. 53.41 ± 4.05 s, p < 0.05), whereas motor reaction times were not different between the two groups. Saliva α-amylase activity was significantly lower after nicotine supplementation (p < 0.01) but increased immediately after the archery test in the NIC group (p < 0.05). In addition, nicotine supplementation significantly decreased HRV and increased the archery score (290.58 ± 10.09 vs. 298.05 ± 8.56, p < 0.01).ConclusionsNicotine enhances the performance of archery athletes by increasing cognitive function and stimulating the sympathetic adrenergic system.
Highlights
IntroductionEspecially in professional team/strength sports (e.g., baseball, ice hockey, wrestling, gymnastics), have different motivations for tobacco consumption, such as enhancing concentration, helping relaxation, allaying fatigue or improving performance [1,2,3,4]
Athletes, especially in professional team/strength sports, have different motivations for tobacco consumption, such as enhancing concentration, helping relaxation, allaying fatigue or improving performance [1,2,3,4]
The participants were required to meet the following criteria: (1) they were archers who used a recurve bow; (2) their archery performances were at the national level; and (3) they had been continually training for a minimum of 2 h ≥ three times per week for at least 3 years
Summary
Especially in professional team/strength sports (e.g., baseball, ice hockey, wrestling, gymnastics), have different motivations for tobacco consumption, such as enhancing concentration, helping relaxation, allaying fatigue or improving performance [1,2,3,4]. A meta-analysis study reported significant positive effects of nicotine in six domains of cognitive function, including fine motor abilities, alerting attention-accuracy and response time (RT), orienting attention-RT, short-term episodic memory-accuracy and working memory-RT [13]. Nicotine exhibited promising effects in improving the cognitive functions of patients with pathological diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [15]. Due to the importance of cognitive functioning for archery athletes, we investigated the effects of nicotine supplementation on the cognitive abilities, heart rate variability (HRV), and sport performance of professional archers
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