Relax Music

Given the widespread use of imagery training by athletes to enhance performance, the paucity of research on the potential of music to enhance imagery effectiveness represents a significant gap in knowledge. Most imagery studies that recorded state anxiety and self-confidence scores did so because the imagery intervention was designed specifically to reduce anxiety or enhance confidence. Although this was not the primary focus of our study, participants were encouraged to imagine successful performance outcomes, a strategy previously shown to enhance self-confidence (e.g., Wesch et al., 2016). The use of relaxing music during imagery in the present study may have played an important role in reducing state anxiety. For example, Elliott et al. provided support for the application of relaxing music in reducing competitive state anxiety and Seaward recommended that listening to relaxing music for 1 h a day could significantly reduce anxiety. Improvement by the NM group can be attributed … Read More