Body Awareness, Mindfulness and Affect: Does the Kind of Physical Activity Make a Difference?

Abstract

The aim of this cross-sectional study is to explore expected differences in the connection between particular physical activities and positive and negative affect, body awareness or mindfulness. Additionally, we describe the so-called tingling phenomenon (i.e. skin-related sensations evoked by focusing on a body part) in terms of prevalence, gender differences and psychological concomitants. A total of 1,057 individuals (331 male; mean age: 30.6 ± 10.17 years) practicing yoga, Pilates training, kung fu, aerobic, or ballroom dance completed our questionnaire. Analysing data of all sports together, weekly frequency of practice, as opposed to time elapsed since starting practice, was connected to lower levels of negative affect and somatosensory amplification, and to higher levels of positive affect. Advanced yoga and Pilates participants showed higher body awareness; advanced kung fu participants amplified bodily signals the least, and aerobic was related to the highest positive affect. Among beginners, there were no practically relevant differences in the assessed constructs. These results might help to clarify the common and different psychological properties that are needed for and/or can be developed by different sports.Keywords: aerobic, body awareness, kung fu, mindfulness, physical activity, positive affect, somatosensory amplification, tingling, well-being, yoga �he authors want to e�press thanks to ��niel �omosk�i, �s�fi a ��ekeres, �ndrea ��egedi, �ogl�rka �ol-�he authors want to e�press thanks to ��niel �omosk�i, �s�fia ��ekeres, �ndrea ��egedi, �ogl�rka �ol-l�rs�ky, �s�fia ��ab� and Lilla Paksi (for data collection) and to �d�m ���� ��inege (for proofreading)� �e-�d�m ���� ��inege (for proofreading)� �e-B.F. Czinege (for proofreading). Research for this paper was supported by the Hungarian National �cientific �esearch �und (O��� �-109549) and by the Bolyai János Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (for F. Köteles). I��N 1788-4934 © 2016 Semmelweis University Institute of Mental Health, BudapestEuropean Journal of Mental Health 11 (2016) 97-111 DOI: 10.5708/EJMH.11.2016.1-2.6 98 �� �� �IH�NYI, �� ��GI, �� ���L�, N� �OLN�I & �� �Ö�ELE� EJMH 11:1-2, April 2016 gerichtete �ufmerksamkeit hervorgerufenes, auf der Haut lokalisiertes Gefühl) dar (Häufigkeit, Geschlechtsunterschiede, psychologische �orrelate)� Insgesamt 1057 Personen (331 Männer, Durchschnittsalter: 30,6 ± 10,17 Jahre), die Yoga, Pilates, Kung-Fu, Aerobic oder Gesellschaftstänze ausübten, haben den �ragebogen ausgefüllt� �lle �ewegungsarten insgesamt betrachtet, hatte die wöchentliche Häufigkeit der körperlichen �ktivität inversen �usammenhang mit der negativen Affektivität und der somatosensorischen Verstärkung und sie zeigte positive Korrelation mit der positiven Affektivität. Die seit dem Beginn des Trainings verstrichene Zeitspanne stand mit keiner der gemessenen Variablen in Zusammenhang. Die Teilnehmer, die Yoga und Pilates fortgeschritten ausüben, �eigten ein höheres �örperbewusstsein, das Niveau der somatose...

Do body‐related sensations make feel us better? Subjective well‐being is associated only with the subjective aspect of interoception

“…The positive association between subjective well‐being and interoceptive sensibility (i.e., the subjective or perceived aspect of interoception) replicates the findings of previous studies (Hanley et al, ; Tihanyi, Böőr, et al, ; Tihanyi, Sági, Csala, Tolnai, & Köteles, ). One explanation is that better psychological functioning and lower levels of perceived stress enable healthy individuals to allocate more attentional resources to various stimuli, including information originating in the body (Köteles et al, ).…”

Mediators between Yoga Practice and Psychological Well-Being: Mindfulness, Body Awareness, and Satisfaction with Body Image

“…Each of the items is stated inversely using a six-point Likert scale (from almost always to almost never) asking the respondents of how often they find themselves acting automatically, inattentively or being preoccupied. The Hungarian version had a good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.78) in earlier studies (simor et al 2013;tiHanyi et al 2016). In the present study, the internal consistency of the scale was 0.86.…”

“…Advanced hatha yoga practitioners showed higher levels of mindfulness than beginners (BrisBon & LoWery 2011), and in a pilot study of a four-month residential yoga group, mindfulness was found to mediate the group effect on quality of life, compared to matched controls (gard et al 2012). In a cross-sectional study, however, no connection was found between mindfulness and frequency of yoga practice, and advanced yoga practitioners showed no higher levels of mindfulness than those practicing aerobic (tiHanyi et al 2016).…”

“…The frequency of yoga practice was shown to be connected to body awareness in several studies (imPeTT et al 2006;tiHanyi et al 2016). In an experimental study, three months of yoga training was found to lead to higher body awareness in healthy adults compared to a non-randomised control group (rani & rao 1994), while only ten weeks of yoga practice increased body awareness in a randomised controlled study in colorectal patients (cramer et al 2014).…”

“…One possible candidate might be body awareness (i.e. 'perception of bodily states, processes and actions that is presumed to originate from sensory proprioceptive and interoceptive afferents and that an individual has the capacity to be aware of ';mehLing et al 2009, 4), which was found to be connected to psychological well-being in several empirical studies (dauBenmier 2005;köTeLes 2014;tiHanyi et al 2016).…”