Affects Of Different Relaxation Methods On Subjective Perception Of Relax And ANS

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of different relaxation methods on athletes' subjective perception of relax and ANS.Meditation, autogenic training, breathing exercise, soft music, Yoga music, and MC Study2 were selected and edited as the treatments. 110 high school athletes (male 70, mean age 15.4; female 40, mean age 15.1) participated in Study I in which the between-subject design was used, and 33 college athletes (male 17, mean age 22.2; female 16, mean age 21.6) took part in Study II in which the within-subject design was used. Skin temperature, skin conduction, heart rate and EEC were tested as indicators of ANS, meanwhile subjective perception of relax of athletes were measured.The results showed: 1.subjects appraised positively on their perceptions of relax in all methods; they felt better on their attention, calmness, heart beat, and hand warmness in autogenic training, breathing exercise, meditation and soft music; the relationships among dimensions of subjective perception of relax were significantly high, except hand warmness. 2.skin temperature increased in all relaxation methods, and meditation, autogenic training, and breathing exercise had more effects on skin temperature; heart rate decreased, but no significant difference existed between baseline and post test of heart rate in all methods; skin conduction decreased in all methods except breathing exercise. Skin temperature decreased at first 150-180 seconds, and then increased significantly until the end of relaxation in all methods; skin conduction decreased significantly at first, and became no consist changes in meditation, autogenic training, soft and Yoga music, and MC Study2, while it was up and down as inhaling and exhaling in breathing exercise. 3.there was significant relationship between the skin temperature and perception of warmness in all methods, but no relationship was found between heart rate and perception of heart beat; 4. decrease in δ,θ, α1,α 2 and β , and increase in a 3 were found in EEC test; MC Study2 had more effect on the change of EEC waves.