{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,12]],"date-time":"2026-01-12T11:33:51Z","timestamp":1768217631166,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,11]],"date-time":"2026-01-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1768089600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Anxiety is a common psychological challenge among athletes, particularly in response to intense training sessions. This randomized crossover study investigated the immediate effects of a single session of focused attention meditation on anxiety, autonomic responses, and performance during high-intensity intermittent training (HIIT) in twenty-six university-level speed skaters. Participants completed three pre-exercise interventions (focused attention meditation, controlled breathing, and random thinking) on separate occasions in a randomized order. Following each intervention, participants performed a leg cycling-based HIIT protocol consisting of 20 s of maximal effort work followed by 10 s of passive rest, repeated for 8 sets using a cycling ergometer. State anxiety was assessed using the State\u2013Trait Anxiety Inventory, and mood disturbance was evaluated using the Profile of Mood States. Autonomic and physiological responses were assessed via heart rate variability (coefficient of variation), oxygen uptake, and power output, measured before and after the intervention and the HIIT bout. Focused attention meditation significantly reduced state anxiety compared with random thinking (\u0394STAI: \u22125.0 [6.0] vs. \u22121.0 [4.3]; p &lt; 0.05, effect size = 0.527), whereas controlled breathing primarily influenced heart rate variability (CV: 0.10 [0.11] vs. 0.07 [0.03]; p = 0.041, effect size = 0.736). No significant differences were observed among conditions in mean power output or fatigue index during HIIT. These findings suggest that single-session focused attention meditation may serve as a practical pre-exercise strategy for an immediate reduction in state anxiety, without compromising subsequent high-intensity exercise performance.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s26020475","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,12]],"date-time":"2026-01-12T08:20:37Z","timestamp":1768206037000},"page":"475","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Focused Attention Meditation as a Pre-Exercise Strategy for Reducing Anxiety in Speed Skaters"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"26","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1205-165X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yosuke","family":"Tomita","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health Care, Takasaki University of Health and Welfare, Takasaki 370-0033, Gunma, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mari","family":"Yokoo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health Care, Takasaki University of Health and Welfare, Takasaki 370-0033, Gunma, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0277-2867","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kaori","family":"Shimoda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Gunma University, Maebashi 371-8514, Gunma, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tomoki","family":"Iizuka","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health Care, Takasaki University of Health and Welfare, Takasaki 370-0033, Gunma, Japan"},{"name":"Department of Rehabilitation, Kurosawa Hospital, Takasaki 370-0033, Gunma, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Eikichi","family":"Sakamoto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Takasaki University of Health and Welfare Clinic, Takasaki 370-0033, Gunma, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Koichi","family":"Irisawa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health Care, Takasaki University of Health and Welfare, Takasaki 370-0033, Gunma, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Fusae","family":"Tozato","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rehabilitation, Sendai Seiyogakuin University, Sendai 984-0022, Miyagi, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0524-9070","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kenji","family":"Tsuchiya","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rehabilitation, Nagano University of Health and Medicine, Nagano 381-2227, Nagano, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"107","DOI":"10.1016\/j.csm.2023.06.003","article-title":"Mental Health in the Youth Athlete","volume":"43","author":"Daley","year":"2024","journal-title":"Clin. 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