Einleitung

Stress and recovery have been discussed extensively in the context of sport performance settings. The term stress is used to describe a process, caused by a load or demand beyond the level of normal functioning characterised by homeostatic dysregulation. It has long been recognised that exposure to severe bio-psycho-social stressors (i.e., noise, pain, family, finances, social relationships, etc.) negatively affects a person’s health status. Even short-term imbalances between stress and recovery could already lead to critical disadvantages. Consequences of these imbalances such as increased fatigue, poor concentration, disturbed mood, and altered eating and sleeping patterns are often associated with short-term decrements of performance. Learning self-regulation skills to improve recovery is therefore paramount for sustaining or improving wellbeing and athletic performance. (gekürzt und geändert)