The Benefits of Mindfulness for Athletes

Post by Shireen Parimoo

The mindfulness era

Sports performance requires as much mental toughness and perseverance as it does physical fitness and conditioning. In addition to physical conditioning, (elite) athletes must develop considerable mental fortitude and discipline, contributing to their performance in competitions. Some important mental skills that athletes develop include motivation, arousal regulation, recovery, the ability to cope with training demands and competition pressure, and the ability to focus on both the present moment and on future goals.

We know that physical fitness can be improved by following exercise programs and regimens, but how do athletes train their minds? Athletes often perform psychological skills training to supplement their physical training, which can include working on techniques like self-talk, goal setting, and imagery. For example, self-talk can reduce performance-related anxiety and increase self-confidence and motivation, both of which may then benefit performance. More recently, mindfulness meditation has become a popular practice among athletes and non-athletes alike. Mindfulness refers to a state of awareness of our thoughts and feelings (i.e., inner experiences) in the present moment. It is characterized by attention to the present moment, lack of reactivity and judgment, and increased acceptance of our inner experiences. Practicing mindfulness meditation has numerous psychological and cognitive benefits, such as reductions in depressive symptoms, anxiety, and stress, as well as improvements in attentional focus and emotion regulation.

There are two main approaches to researching mindfulness:

1.     Relating dispositional or trait mindfulness (e.g., as an individual, how well are they able to stay focused on the present moment?) to other psychological and performance-related outcomes.

2.     Mindfulness-based interventions. In this approach, psychological and performance outcomes are measured before and after an intervention during which participants learn about mindfulness concepts and mindfulness techniques like emotion acceptance.  

Do athletes benefit from mindfulness?

Across a variety of sports, research shows that individuals high in trait mindfulness are more likely to experience the flow state. Flow is a state of intense focus characterized by complete immersion in the task at hand that is accompanied by high levels of clarity, control over the task, ease and enjoyment of the task, and a sense of time flying by. More commonly, flow is what we call “being in the zone” during a task. Athletes who score high on trait mindfulness also tend to have better concentration, higher goal clarity, and an increased sense of control than those lower on trait mindfulness. Experiencing the flow state, in turn, is often associated with better performance.

Trait mindfulness has also been associated with a better ability to cope with sports-related challenges such as training demands, self-confidence and motivation, and performance-related worries. One of the reasons that trait mindfulness results in better coping skills is that mindfulness helps in the regulation of emotion and allows people to avoid ruminating on negative thoughts. Thus, higher mindfulness likely prevents athletes from being distracted by negative thoughts and provides more room for them to focus on their goal, which might then prevent them from faltering under pressure.

In line with this idea, trait mindfulness is related to higher self-reported sports performance and lower competition-related anxiety. Interestingly,  researchers have found that competition-related anxiety negatively impacts performance, but only in those who were low in mindfulness. As performance- and sports-related worries are likely pervasive among athletes, higher mindfulness may prevent those worries from interfering with performance.

Is mindfulness training effective?

Mindfulness-based interventions show promise in facilitating performance outcomes, likely by influencing both physiological and psychological variables. On a holistic level, mindfulness training has been shown to improve the well-being of athletes, along with reductions in burnout and improvements in sleep quality. Mindfulness also has a positive effect on physiological measures like salivary cortisol levels (a marker of stress) and resting heart rate (a measure of fitness).

On a psychological level, mindfulness training can lead to more frequent flow states, better attentional control, and fewer performance-related worries. In fact, one study showed that the impact of an 8-week-long mindfulness program reduced cortisol levels of elite athletes by also reducing their competition-related anxiety. Athletes who practiced mindfulness for four weeks also became better equipped at handling failures. Lastly, the impact of mindfulness on actual sports performance is currently unclear. According to a recent meta-analysis, mindfulness interventions improve performance in precision sports like dart throwing and shooting, but not in sports like running and cycling. Other work indicates that both subjective and objective measures of performance show improvements following mindfulness training, such as longer time to exhaustion on an endurance test. By and large, however, the impact of mindfulness training on objective performance outcomes is mixed and more research is needed to identify how different types and durations of mindfulness programs might benefit performance in various sports.

References +

Aherne et al. The effect of mindfulness training on athletes’ flow: An initial investigation. The Sport Psychologist (2011).

Birrer et al. Mindfulness to enhance athletic performance: Theoretical considerations and possible impact mechanisms. Mindfulness (2012).

Birrer et al. Helping athletes flourish using mindfulness and acceptance approaches – an introduction and mini review. Sport & Exercise Medicine (2021).

Buhlmayer et al. Effects of mindfulness practice on performance-relevant parameters and performance outcomes in sports: A meta-analytical review. Sports Medicine (2017).

Cathcart et al. Mindfulness and flow in elite athletes. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology (2014).

De Petrillo et al. Mindfulness for long-distance runners: An open trial using mindful sport performance enhancement. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology (2009).

Hamilton et al. Effects of a mindfulness intervention on sports-anxiety, pessimism, and flow in competitive cyclists. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being (2016).

Josefsson et al. Mindfulness mechanisms in sports: Mediating effects of rumination and emotion regulation on sport-specific coping. Mindfulness (2017).

Kee & Wang. Relationships between mindfulness, flow dispositions, and mental skills adoption: A cluster analytic approach. Psychology of Sport and Exercise (2008).

Mehrsafar et al. The effects of mindfulness training on competition-induced anxiety and salivary stress markers in elite Wushu athletes: A pilot study. Physiology & Behavior (2019).

Nien et al. Mindfulness training enhances endurance performance and executive functions in athletes: An event-related potential study. Neural Plasticity (2020).