Breathing has become a popular tool over the last few years to help improve performance.
Before games you see elite athletes undertake structured breathing, you see it in schools and leading workplaces. The art of focusing only on your breath has lead to improved concentration, better stress regulation and improved performance in some athletes. How is something so simple so effective? Why haven’t we used this before? Is this just another fad?
Breathing to enhance performance
Stress is a major part of our lives whether we like it or not. However not all stress is bad- Our bodies are used to taking on and responding to stress in the short term(acute) however long term stress is something that we are not used to. Short term stressors such as exercise lead to ongoing benefits. Your body adapts and become more efficient. You get fitter and stronger as a response to the stress. However if you trained too much your body would not get the chance to adapt- this is the difference between acute and chronic stress. Acute stress is only for short periods, chronic is not.
Lets take a look at the difference between acute and chronic stress and how we adapt to them:
Acute Stress
Acute stress results in a elevation of vital signs(Heart Rate, Blood Pressure) that returns to somewhat normal once the stress is over- these stressors only happen over a short period of time and result in an adaptation once they are over.
Examples:
- Exercise
- Heat Exposure(Sauna)
- Breathing(Wim Hof method)
- Cold Exposure
Chronic Stress
Chronic stress result in the same elevation over a prolonged period of time- as there is no time for rest there is generally no positive adaptation
Examples:
- Workplace stress
- Pain
- Being Overweight
How can we use breathing to help performance?
Acute stressors can help manage your stress levels. Activities such as exercise, breathing, heat and cold exposure can help regulate stress levels.This is where breathing comes in- the use of breathing is to get rid of external stressors and bring your attention to the present. Adding in some breathing exercises at the end of a gym session or before a big meeting can be really beneficial to your performance- with as little as 5 deep breaths can make a change.