Psychological typification and reaction of the cardiovascular system of endurance athletes to multisensory interference. Part 2: the relationship between the psychological characteristics of a successful athlete and the response of heart rate to stressors

Abstract

The search for methods of profiling and selecting athletes in order to preserve health and improve performance is one of the most important tasks of scientific and methodological support for sports training. The purpose of the study is to assess the possibility of determining the psychophysiological types of athletes when testing for resistance to multisensory interference. These data can later be used in combined psychophysiological methods of sports selection. The aim of the study is to find out whether certain psychological types of athletes may have characteristic physiological features of reactions to hypoxia, as well as to assess the applicability of the methods used. 28 cyclical sports athletes — male skiers and swimmers from 13 to 26 years old (Q1 (25 %) 18,2; median (50 %) 19,0; Q3 (75 %) 20,7) of various levels of athletic qualification were examined. A test was performed with normobaric 10 % hypoxia with an analysis of heart rate variability (HRV). Revealed: 1. differences in HRV profiles at rest and at the beginning of the hypoxic test in athletes of different sports qualifications, 2. certain combinations of personality traits of masters of cyclic sports correspond to characteristic HRV profiles. This study shows that the skill level of an athlete is reflected in the response to multisensory interference and the chosen research methods are adequate for the set goals. The limitations of this pilot study include the sample size, as well as the fact that only males participated in it. In the future, the authors plan to increase the sample depending on the size of the effect (at least 125 volunteers) to obtain more reliable data and qualitative conclusions.