The South Korean archery team uses a neurofeedback system to stay focused and on top of their game. This training method monitors the athletes’ brain waves in real time to help them maintain a stable mental state. Neurofeedback is so advanced that it’s even used to train astronauts, and it helps athletes perform at their peak mental capacity.
During the month of August 2016, there was one Olympic event that kept us awake at night. It was an event that kept us on the edge of our seats, frustrated, cheering, and sweating with every step the South Korean athletes took. In the end, they won the entire event for the first time ever: archery. The success of the Korean archery team was not only due to the athletes’ consistent practice and physical fitness, but also to a special secret: mental training, which pushed their mental strength to the highest level. In fact, one of the biggest factors that determines an athlete’s score in an archery competition is their mental strength.
In archery, athletes must maintain high levels of concentration and composure to hit an arrow at a 122-centimeter diameter target from a distance of 70 meters. The noise of the crowd, the athlete”s own nervousness, irregular breathing, and even the slightest tremor can have a huge impact. For this reason, the Korean Archery Federation has implemented concentration training that is comparable to the real thing. One of the most notable is the Neurofeedback System, which maximizes performance by controlling the athlete”s brain waves. Through this training method, athletes learn to monitor their brainwaves and maintain an optimal mental state.
Our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are all the result of communication between neurons in the brain. The electrical signals generated by this communication are called brain waves, which are categorized into delta waves, theta waves, alpha waves, beta waves, and gamma waves. For example, delta waves are the slower waves that occur during deep sleep and play an important role in rest and recovery, while beta waves are the brain waves that are most common in situations that require concentration, and occur when we are actively thinking and paying attention. As you can see, brainwaves are intimately connected to our daily lives, and unstable brainwaves can lead to mental and neurological problems. For example, an unstable brainwave state can lead to poor concentration and increased stress. Therefore, training that actively utilizes brain waves is playing an increasingly important role in sports.
Neurofeedback systems are a way of utilizing these brainwave characteristics to train athletes, especially in sports that require a high level of mental discipline. Athletes wear electrodes on their scalp and watch videos of their performances to analyze their brainwave responses to different situations. For example, if they have unstable brain waves during tense moments in a game, they analyze the situation to identify their weaknesses and learn how to deal with them. You can also practice maintaining a positive brainwave despite external stimuli, which will help you feel more confident and focused in the game. Neurofeedback training isn’t just about suppressing emotions or thoughts, it’s about helping you find your own composure.
In fact, neurofeedback systems aren”t only used in sports. This training method has a long history of scientific research and clinical trials. In the 1960s, Dr. Sterman from the United States studied brainwave training in cats. He trained them to repeatedly enhance certain sensorimotor rhythms (SMRs), which showed that it was possible to change the activity of the brain. Later, NASA applied neurofeedback systems to astronaut training in preparation for lunar missions. At the time, it was discovered that while normal cats experienced severe fatigue, hallucinations, and seizures in a biological damage test caused by spacecraft fuel, cats trained with Dr. Sterman’s EEG were less affected. This led NASA to adopt neurofeedback as a training method to improve astronaut focus and resilience, a tradition that continues to this day.
Today, neurofeedback systems are being used not only by athletes, but also by business people, military personnel, and others. In the workplace, where high levels of concentration and calmness are required, it can be a great way to reduce stress and improve focus. In recent years, neurofeedback has also been used to treat ADHD. It’s a safe treatment that uses brainwave modulation training to improve symptoms without medication. However, in cases of physical trauma to the brain or psychological trauma, the training can cause side effects such as headaches or dizziness. Research is underway to overcome these limitations, and it is expected that neurofeedback systems will be able to contribute to the solution of various mental and neurological problems in the future.
Neurofeedback systems, which have helped South Korean archers excel, are now having a major impact on the psychological stability and mental growth of individuals. It’s worth looking forward to what the future holds for neurofeedback training to unleash the brain’s full potential and strengthen psychological capabilities.
