Mental health is hot right now, and with good reason. According to the American Institute of Stress (AiS), 33 percent of Americans report extreme stress. 77 percent of Americans experience stress which affects their health and 73 percent of Americans have stress which impacts their mental health.
Imagine you are stressed about a problem at work or home. You are constantly thinking about it, losing sleep and unable to focus on anything else. You have an upcoming athletic event.
You still go to training but find it difficult to “keep your head in game” and you’re exhausted. You’re not performing at your best on game day. Was it something that happened at work or home? It turned out to be a mental stressor which affected your performance. This chain of events may be common but it does not have to become your normal.
No matter what happens in the gym or on the field, improving your mental health can improve your performance.
Check out NASM’s Certified wellness coach course for more techniques to reduce stress and improve recovery.
IMPACT OF STRESS IN ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE
It is important to understand stress and its origins, as well as how it affects your athletic performance, before you can manage it effectively. Stressors are any stimuli or situations that cause a deviation from homeostatic equilibrium. Stress can boost immunity and improve performance, but too much stress can do the opposite.
Stress can be physical or mental, and can be classified as good stress (also known as eustress), or bad stress. Eustress can encourage us to push forward or make positive changes, whereas distress can keep us stuck or hold us back mentally or physically.
The amount of stress that is good or bad can differ from health to person depending on how we have experienced an event. One athlete might shut down when a coach shouts in their face, while another teammate may find the same situation inspiring and perform better. Everyone is unique! Every workout causes stress to the body, and stress is necessary to improve athletic performance.
If the workout is too intense or results in injury, then the stimulus meant to be eustress will become distressed. It is important to explore your own personal sources of eustress or distress so you can better understand what you need in order to excel in sport and life.
It might not be “all in your mind”
Most people refer to mental or psychological stress when they discuss stress. How does mental distress affect athletic performance? Your body responds quickly when you are experiencing any kind of stress. Your body will react the same whether you are experiencing physical or mental stress.
The sympathetic nervous system activates when your mind says “Danger!”. Your body then goes into “fight or flee” mode to protect itself against the perceived threat. The heart rate and breathing increase. Blood rushes to the vital organs of the body. Digestion and reproduction are put “on hold” so all energy can be used for escaping a potential danger.
This helps us escape a dangerous situation with all we have! If you are in physical danger this is great, but it can make it difficult to complete the task. You will recover if you experience distress occasionally. Your body will go back to its normal state and your health will improve. If you suffer from chronic mental distress this can make you more susceptible to injury and illness (Lopes-Dos-Santos, et. al. 2020).
Stress is a part of life. The good news is you can learn to deal with it better. When a mental threat becomes a physical reaction, learning to navigate mental stressors will help you reduce the physical effects of these stressors. You can achieve this by practicing mindfulness.
How does mindfulness reduce stress and improve athletic performance?
A state of mindfulness is achieved by calmly accepting and acknowledging one’s thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations while focusing on the present. Meta-analysis of 209 studies on mindfulness-based therapies shows that daily mindfulness practices can reduce stress, anxiety and depression. al. 2013).
This can have serious implications for athletes. The phrase “functional athletic behaviour” is used by sports psychologists to describe the athlete’s ability perform at his or her physical peak, while still being able focus on immediate performance cues. For example, the athlete must be able to hit the ball and kick it at peak performance. al. 2016).
Although there is a limited number studies on the effects on sports performance of mindfulness interventions, preliminary findings suggest that daily, regular mindfulness practice can promote better performance (Rothlin P. al. 2016).
STRESS REDUCTION TECHNIQUES AND MINDFULNESS TECHNIQUES TRY
Try the technique that appeals to you the most. Try these techniques in the morning or before you practice.
Nature walks. According to a 2022 study, nature walks can reduce stress. (Sudimac S., Sale V., and Kuhn S. 2022). Even if you only have an hour to spare, going outside will help you forget about the things that are stressing you.
Breathing exercises. Breathing exercises can help you focus your attention and encourage convergent thought (or the ability of reaching a single solution to a health problem). Try this one! Continue from 7 to 1 by inhaling while counting up to 7, and exhaling while counting down to 7. Inhale as you count to 6, then exhale as you count to 6. Start again at 7 if you get distracted or lose track. Repeat the process several times.
Meditation. Consider meditation as a spring cleaning of your mind. There are several ways to meditate. Active meditation is a way to develop your ability to be mindfully aware while performing an activity of both your internal experience (thoughts and feelings) and your external experience (whatever you hear, see, feel, smell or taste).
Stretching and self-myofascial releases. Stretching and foam rolling are recovery techniques which can reduce the stress on your muscles. They help overactive muscles relax and lengthen to improve performance.
It takes time to develop a regular mindfulness practice, but the effort is worth it.
Benefits beyond the Gym or Field
Not only athletes can benefit from mindfulness and stress reduction. Stress is a daily occurrence for everyone, so adopting these mindfulness practices can help you to achieve better mental and physical well-being.
Reduced stress and improved mental health can be seen in the ability to concentrate better on the task, to be more present when with family and friends, to improve physical health and to deal with stressful situations without becoming completely derailment mentally or physically.
SUMMARY
Although stressors are unavoidable they can be managed. You can maintain peak athletic performance while overcoming life’s biggest stressors with regular daily mindfulness practice and stress reduction techniques.
