Sport and health psychology

The research group in Sports and Health Psychology prioritizes applied and relevant research within sport and health psychology. Currently, our primary research focus on how psychological mechanisms such as stress and mental fatigue affect performance, sick leave, school performance or sports performance, or how activities in everyday life, including physical activity or sports affect psychological mechanisms. A holistic mindset characterizes many of the research projects.

Current research areas 

  • Mental fatigue and sports performance in pupils
  • Mental skills of top athletes in high school
  • Muscle fatigue and the brain's regulation of sports performance
  • Coping with stress in outdoor life and adventurous learning 
  • Coping with outdoorswimming lessons 
  • Physical activity and Alzheimer
  • Learning, health and well-being among students 
  • Stress, coping, cognitive capacity / performance and the use of cognitive techniques to promote learning, sports performance and school performance
  • Active learning and use of digital teaching tools
  • Stress and coping for breast cancer patients
  • Risk factors and protective factors, as well as development and evaluation of various measures / teaching methods with physical activity / exercise / sports / physical education
  • Coping and expectation of work, health and ill health
  • Cognitive function in work rehabilitation 
  • Research on and for the teaching professions, including employees in kindergartens. These are traditional women's workplaces withhigh reportsof health problems and sick leave. 

Assosciated Research Projects 

  • Coping after Breast Cancer 
  • Digital Psychoeducation for Stress Management 
  • ALMUTH 

Research program

This research group is part of the research program Sports, Physical Activity and Food.

Head of Research Group


bilde av Hege Randi Eriksen

Hege Randi Eriksen

Professor

Research Group Members

PhD Students

Master students
  • Marie Svardal Vikne 
  • Ivar Halland 
  • Daniel Strand 
  • Bård Mollekleiv Dalen 
  • Ole-Vinjar Egeland 
  • Håkon Svenøy 

Publications

Central Regulation and Neuromuscular Fatigue during Exercise of Different Durations, Frøyd et al., 2016. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26741123/  

Vi kan lure kroppen til å orke mer. Frøyd og Sæle, 2018. https://www.bt.no/btmeninger/debatt/i/9m4Vmd/vi-kan-lure-kroppen-til-aa-orke-mer  

Grasdalsmoen M, Engdahl B, Fjeld MK, Steingrímsdóttir ÓA, Nielsen CS, Eriksen HR, Lønning KJ, Sivertsen B. Physical exercise and chronic pain in university students. PLoS One. 2020 Jun 26;15(6):e0235419. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0235419. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0235419  

Grasdalsmoen M, Eriksen HR, Lønning KJ, Sivertsen B. Physical exercise, mental health problems, and suicide attempts in university students. BMC Psychiatry. 2020 Apr 16;20(1):175. doi: 10.1186/s12888-020-02583-3.  https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-020-02583-3  

Johansen T, Jensen C, Eriksen HR, Lyby PS, Dittrich WH, Holsen IN, Jakobsen H, Øyeflaten I. Occupational Rehabilitation Is Associated With Improvements in Cognitive Functioning. Front Psychol. 2019 Oct 10;10:2233. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02233. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02233/full  

Grasdalsmoen M, Eriksen HR, Lønning KJ, Sivertsen B. Physical exercise and body-mass index in young adults: a national survey of Norwegian university students. BMC Public Health. 2019 Oct 23;19(1):1354. doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-7650-z. https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-019-7650-z  

Sveinsdottir V, Lie SA, Bond GR, Eriksen HR, Tveito TH, Grasdal AL, Reme SE. Individual placement and support for young adults at risk of early work disability (the SEED trial). A randomized controlled trial. Scand J Work Environ Health. 2020 Jan 1;46(1):50-59. doi: 10.5271/sjweh.3837. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31170299/  

Johnsen TL, Eriksen HR, Baste V, Indahl A, Odeen M, Tveito TH. Effect of Reassuring Information About Musculoskeletal and Mental Health Complaints at the Workplace: A Cluster Randomized Trial of the atWork Intervention. J Occup Rehabil. 2019 Jun;29(2):274-285. doi: 10.1007/s10926-018-9786-6. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10926-018-9786-6  

F. Hausmann, V. V. Iversen, M. Kristoffersen, H. Gundersen, E. Johannsson, M. Vika.Combined aerobic and resistance training improves physical capacity in women treated forgynecological cancer. Supportive Care in Cancer, 2018 Apr. Volume 26, pages 3389–3396(2018). Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-018-4185-2