Promotion of healthy lifestyle – psychological skills

The information below is extracted from “PE (HKDSE) Learning and Teaching Package 2024”, Part VII - Psychological Skills for PE, Sport and Recreation.

A. Stress management

• Relaxation - The most important strategy in stress management is relaxation. The following six methods can be considered:
  • Smile
  • Slow down
  • Take a slow and deep breath
  • Focus on the present; do not think about what has just happened and what will happen
  • Do relaxation imagery
  • Enjoy the present situation
• When one is very stressful, it is not easy to relax. Therefore, relaxation training is necessary. Some examples of relaxation training are as follows:
  • Progressive relaxation – To acquire the feeling of being relaxed through firstly tensing and then relaxing muscles (Refer to the Student Stress Management Platform for detailed information).
  • Biofeedback – To learn how to relax specific muscles with the assistance of an apparatus that can monitor somatic responses (For example, heart rate, respiration rate, muscle tension, etc).
  • Imagery – To imagine how to accomplish the task in a fully relaxed way.
  • Meditation – To concentrate on a specific word or object so as to reach a state of calmness.
  • Mindfulness Exercise – Practising mindfulness involves breathing methods, guided imagery, and other practices to relax the body and mind and help reduce stress.
• Positive thinking - Stress is psychological in nature. Positive thinking may help. Examples of positive thinking include:
  • View the challenge as a learning opportunity.
  • Believe that preparing thoroughly and trying one’s best shall suffice and there should be no regret.
  • Assess the event importance again from a more macro perspective. For example, an “important” competition will become less important when it is considered as one of the many important competitions that one will undergo in his / her life.
• Share with others - It is also wise to actively share the stressful feelings with parents, friends, classmates and teachers and seek their advice or support.

Self-confidence refers to one’s belief in his/her ability to perform desired behaviors.  The following are some methods of building self-confidence:

• Acquire successful experiences through:
  • Setting realistic goals
  • Setting short-term goals so that it is easier to identify progress and to succeed
  • Setting process goals and performance goals; and emphasising on “achieving success through working hard”
• Be well prepared for the challenges by enhancing their physical abilities, skills and tactics.
• Learn to build up a confident image in competitions (For example, keeping the head up, shoulders back, facial muscles loose even after making a critical error, etc.).
• Discard negative thoughts (For example, I am afraid that I may make mistakes), replace them with positive thoughts (For example, I have taken plenty of practices; it is unlikely that I will make mistakes) and then strengthen the positive thoughts through repeated imageries and self-talks.

 
C. Goal setting

When carried out effectively, goal setting can help a person to concentrate, raise self-confidence, enhance motivation and ultimately bring about a positive effect on performance. The following table shows three types of goals in physical activities.

The following are some guidelines on goal setting:

• Set specific goals with time-lines.

• Set goals which are challenging but achievable.

• Develop performance indicators for the goals, i.e. clearly describe what actions to be taken under certain conditions.

• Break the long-term goals into several short-term goals in different stages.

• Set the process goals and performance goals, and fewer or even no outcome goals.

• Set goals for practice and competition.

• Develop the goal-achievement strategies.

• Display the goals at eye-catching spots where they can be seen frequently.

• Do not set too many goals.

• Review the goals from time to time and make adjustments when necessary.