In today’s rapidly growing era of mental health awareness, mindfulness has become a very hot topic amongst its effects on athletic performance. Recently, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games decided to incorporate mindfulness into athletes' daily routines through newly designed “mindfulness spaces” that have been implemented on athletes as pre-game enhancers. The inclination towards mindfulness has been sparked by many research studies concluding positive effects of mindfulness when understanding how mental barriers can limit physiological capabilities of athletes. Taking into consideration the incorporation of mindfulness by major sporting organizations, like the Olympics, makes individuals truly ponder on the effects that mindfulness can truly bear on an athlete's performance.
Benefits Behind Mindfulness Interventions
Mindfulness can take shape in many ways, but it is commonly known as the state of conscious actions and awareness of an individual's internal state. Within the realm of sports, this is vital considering the many aspects of stressors that may take place including competitive trait anxiety. However, the term mindfulness can take shape in many different variations but is commonly exhibited through meditative exercises releasing negative ruminating thoughts from an individual's mental space. This can greatly enhance the degree of sports performance through anxiety management and improved conscious awareness.
Applications of Mindfulness in Sports Realm
The applications of mindfulness in the area of sports can be seen through pre-game mindfulness sessions that focus on exercises including but not limited to, body scans, mountain meditation, guided imagery and breathing exercises. By incorporating these exercises before athletes engage in performance, researchers aim to reduce levels of unwanted stress and improve sleep quality, and a focused in-game state. It should also be noted that the effects of mindfulness not only aid an individual's success in athletics but also have positive spillover effects on daily life.
Positive effects
Mindfulness as an incorporated regimen for athletes according to a study by Wang et al., (2023) saw increased levels of shooting performance in collegiate basketball athletes after a 7-week mindfulness introduction course. Individuals also reported greater levels of stress management strategies within their academic and social life. This study highlights just one of the many benefits that mindfulness is associated with that can help athletes gain maximized levels of performance.
Secondly, mindfulness disconfigures levels of cortisol that are associated with stress and anxiety that can better help with athlete's quick cognitive decision-making during in-game scenarios. This application of mindfulness allows individuals to reap the biological understanding of how mindfulness can improve upon our physiological state.
Lastly, mindfulness as a meditative practice can bear better emotional regulation of stressors faced by athletes in the aspect of competitive sporting environments as seen in the Olympics.
Constraints of Mindfulness in Sports
However, since research in the field of mindfulness has been a newly introduced subject in the 21st century, there are still some constraints to current research on its applications to the realm of sports.
The degree of competitive level in a sport may affect the results of mindfulness
Individual's genetic differences towards sports anxiety management
The majority of research relies on self-reported data measures
Reported emotional distress among athletes
Limited research in longitudinal study designs
Lack of variability between sports fields
So what can be taken away from the effectiveness of mindfulness in sports? These are the major takeaways that have been the pillarstone of the current development of research in mindfulness.
Research from various endeavours of sports has seen increased levels of concentration that stem from decreased frequencies of in-game rumination.
Heightened states of awareness and reflection after matches that improve upon the self-conscious actions of an individual.
Benefits of increased stress management techniques outside of sports context into holistic aspects of life (e.g. social, academic, and professional)
Works cited:
Henriksen, K. (2022). The Magic of Mindfulness in Sport. Frontiers for Young Minds, 10. doi:https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2022.683827.
Olympics.com. (2024). New measures are in place at Paris 2024 to support athlete well-being. [online] Available at: https://olympics.com/ioc/news/new-measures-in-place-at-paris-2024-to-support-athlete-well-being.
Wang, Y., Lei, S.-M. and Wu, C.-C. (2023). The Effect of Mindfulness Intervention on the Psychological Skills and Shooting Performances in Male Collegiate Basketball Athletes in Macau: A Quasi-Experimental Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(3), p.2339. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032339.
www.anahana.com. (n.d.). Meditation For Sport, How It Helps, Performance Anxiety. [online] Available at: https://www.anahana.com/en/wellbeing-blog/meditation/meditation-for-sport.
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