Examination of the Effects of Autogenic Training on the Reaction Time Performance of the National Badminton Athletes

Abstract

Background: Although there is a consensus among researchers that autogenic training has positive effects on the psychological state of athletes, there have not been enough studies on its effects on physical performance yet. Therefore, the effects of autogenic training on physical performance is an important question that remains to be clarified. The fact that there is no research examining the effects of autogenic training on reaction time performance constitutes the original value of the study. Aim: The aim of the study is to examine the effects of autogenic training applied during 8 weeks on the visual and auditory reaction time performances of national badminton athletes. Methods: 15 male (experimental group=8 and control group=7) national badminton player between the ages of 18-23 residing in the province of Malatya participated in the study voluntarily. In addition to the training program, autogenic training was applied to the experimental group for 8 weeks, 3 days a week, after warming up. The control group continued their regular training. In order to determine the effects of the training, the pre-test and post-test was applied to the participants. SPSS 23 Package Program was used for the analysis of the data. The data were evaluated with the Mann-Whitney U test, one of the Non-Parametric tests. The significance level was taken as p<.05. Results: The mean age of the experimental group (N=8) was 19.88±1.81, the mean height was 173.75±4.10, and the mean body weight was 68.13±5.52. The mean age of the control group (N=7) was 19.72±1.80, the mean height was 175.72±7.87, and the mean body weight was 67.58±6.61.It was observed that there was no statistically significant difference between the right and left hand visual reaction times and the right and left hand auditory reaction times of the experimental and control groups (p>.05). Conclusion: As a result, autogenic training does not have a statistically significant effect on the visual and auditory reaction time of national badminton athletes. Keywords: Autogenic training, badminton, reaction time