Changes in perceptions of mental fatigue during a season in professional under-23 English Premier League soccer players

Abstract

The present study assessed changes in academy soccer players' perception of mental fatigue (MF) across a competitive season, investigating the relationship between MF and other subjective measures of wellness. Ten players completed a modified Brief Assessment of Mood (BAM+) questionnaire that included the question: 'How mentally fatigued do you feel'? on match-day (MD) and one (MD+1), two (MD+2) and three (MD+3) days post-match (35 matches). Players reported their MF, along with other subjective measures (sleep, muscle soreness, fatigue and motivation). Results found MF was elevated on MD+1 (43±1 mm) compared to all other days (all P≤0.001). Players reported lower MF on MD+1 in the late-season phase (34±2 mm) compared to both early-(50±2 mm, P≤0.001) and midseason (46±2 mm, P≤0.001). This coincided with an 80%-win rate in the late-season phase versus the early-(33%) and mid-season (50%). There were very strong repeated-measures correlations between changes in MF and sleep (r=-0.77), muscle soreness (r=0.94), fatigue (r=0.92) and motivation (r =-0.89; all P≤0.0005). In conclusion, MF was closely aligned to match success and other wellness variables. This data suggests a potential lack of sensitivity for identifying MF using a subjective questionnaire. Therefore, researchers and practitioners could work together to identify other ways of practically assessing MF.

International orienteering experts’ consensus on the definition, development, cause, impact and methods to reduce mental fatigue in orienteering: A Delphi study

“…Recent investigations with well-trained netballers and soccer players show that the subjective rating of MF remains higher than pre-training/competition during a netball training camp and after a soccer match (Abbott et al, 2020;Russell et al, 2021;Thompson et al, 2020). This might reinforce the consensus made by the expert panel that insufficient recovery, the physical and cognitive demands of the task together with the unpredictability of the environment, may be related to the development of MF.…”

How Mentally Fatiguing Are Consecutive World Padel Tour Matches?

“…Regarding the between match recovery for mental fatigue, previous studies suggested that mental fatigue remains elevated for a period of time, although the cognitively fatiguing task had finished [9,10]. For example, the fact that the increase in the mental fatigue 24 h after a soccer match had finished was described in two different studies [22,24]. Although this is not clear in padel yet, and other previous papers have not reported negative effects of mental fatigue [11,12], the information provided in previous studies indicate that a decrease in padel performance may occur in presence of mental fatigue [13,14].…”

Effect of a Four-Week Soccer Training Program Using Stressful Constraints on Team Resilience and Precompetitive Anxiety

“…Soccer is primarily a low-intensity endurance activity interspersed with repeated short bouts of high-intensity activity [ 1 ]. However, soccer is also cognitively demanding and fatiguing [ 5 , 6 ]. It has been stated that soccer is one of the highest cognitive demand sports due to its performance being influenced by high levels of attention and frequent decision making [ 7 ].…”