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).

A New Year of Remote Work: Supporting Employee Wellbeing During COVID-19 and Beyond

Post by Leanna Kalinowski

A change in how we work

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to rapid and drastic changes in society, and that includes the workplace. In addition to public health measures like social distancing and face mask requirements, many organizations adopted remote work practices to further mitigate virus spread. In mid-2020, the percentage of employees working from home rapidly increased from less than 10% to upwards of 50%, with the majority of employees transitioning to working from home for the first time. As the pandemic response now begins to soften, employers are beginning to re-establish and define how we work. Reflecting on remote work strategies and their impact on employee productivity and wellbeing is crucial for establishing long-term changes that support employees, particularly as employers consider permanent remote or hybrid working models.

The risk of burnout

Until recently, employee wellbeing has largely been understudied and not widely incorporated into metrics for describing employee success. Traditionally, employers tend to focus on productivity and performance when evaluating the success of an employee, without considering the impact of wellbeing on productivity. In 2019, the World Health Organization updated its definition of burnout to refer to it as a “syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed”. Burnout is characterized by three symptoms: feelings of energy depletion, increased mental distance from one’s job, and reduced professional efficacy. Generally, employee burnout is associated with decreases in productivity, making it an important issue for employers to tackle. Many employees working from home have faced challenges leading to burnout, like dealing with home-schooling, caring for sick family members, or a change to their work-life boundaries. As employers begin to redefine how we work, understanding employee wellbeing and burnout has become integral in understanding the effectiveness of remote work.

What’s the impact on productivity and wellbeing?

There is mixed evidence on the impact of remote work on productivity and wellbeing, with both positive and negative effects reported depending on organizational (i.e., company, number of days per week working from home, teamwork) and personal (i.e., prior remote work experience, having children at home) factors. Not surprisingly, employees with prior remote work experience had an easier time adjusting to the COVID-19 workplace changes compared to employees who never worked from home before. This is suspected to be due to two factors: 1) these employees previously learned how to balance the demands of their family with the demands of their workplace, and 2) these employees had more efficient work from home setups.

Changing the way that we communicate is also incredibly important for remote work success. Remote workers must be able to effectively communicate with each other and their clients through means other than face-to-face, such as through email, phone, text messaging, instant messaging, and video conferencing. Communication gaps have been largely cited as a reason for productivity declines associated with remote work, with current research focusing on better understanding the relationships between communication and remote work outcomes. 

One study tested the relationship between three communication variables: communication quality, communication frequency, and supervisor-set communication expectations, along with two indicators of remote worker success: performance and wellbeing/burnout. They found that while the frequency and quality of communication are both associated with increased productivity, only frequent communication led to burnout. These results suggest that, rather than focusing on communication frequency, employers should focus on improving the quality of communication and setting expectations with their employees early on. In the future, it will also be important to test the effectiveness of different communication strategies in different contexts - for example when to send an email versus video call - and use this information to help drive communication expectation setting. 

What can employers do in the future?

Despite the mixed impacts of remote work on productivity and employee wellbeing, employers should not dismiss remote work as a permanent work arrangement. While initial decreases in productivity may be alarming, it will be worth it for employers to collect data on what is driving these differences in productivity amongst their employees to optimize working conditions. Employers can assist their employees in building adequate work from home setups, providing flexibility in the initial stages of remote work, and setting communication expectations from the beginning. Further, future research should look at what factors help to improve the quality of employee communication, to avoid burnout or a lack of sense of belonging amongst employees. Regardless of the initial growing pains of working from home, a high percentage of employees have expressed interest in continued remote work following the pandemic, and therefore finding ways to meet the needs of these employees will be critical to ensuring long-term employee wellbeing and productivity.

References +

Donati et al. Not all remote workers are similar: Technology acceptance, remote work beliefs, and wellbeing of remote workers during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. (2021). Access the original scientific publication here.

Kitagawa et al. Working from home and productivity under the COVID-19 pandemic: Using survey data of four manufacturing firms. PLOS one. (2021). Access the original scientific publication here.

Salgado de Snyder et al. Occupational stress and mental health among healthcare workers serving socially vulnerable populations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontiers in Public Health. (2021). Access the original scientific publication here.

Shockley et al. Remote worker communication during COVID-19: The role of quantity, quality, and supervisor expectation-setting. Journal of Applied Psychology. (2021). Access the original scientific publication here.

How Has Social Media Impacted Mental Health during COVID-19?

Post by Lani Cupo

Adapting to a virtual world

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, people around the world have largely adapted to a virtual lifestyle. Business meetings, holiday gatherings, and doctor’s appointments now take place through video calls. Recent advances in technology afford clear benefits in facilitating the continuation of such activities. In particular, social media services allow people around the world to access information, spend time with their friends, and engage with their professions from the safety of their homes. However, while such services provide some obvious opportunities for mental health care, such as video-calling with therapists or accessing applications designed to help manage personal mental health like meditation apps for example, recent research also reveals the potential risk of social media usage.

The infodemic

Even as the world has adapted to the global pandemic over the past two years, the more insidious growth of the infodemic has risen to public attention. The infodemic is a term coined to refer to the spread of misinformation in the context of disease outbreak, a process that is fueled not only by mainstream media but also social media platforms.

Examining five social media platforms (Gab, Reddit, Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube), one study found relatively similar patterns of behavior in how users engaged with information across platforms. Assessing the spread of information from either mostly questionable or mostly reliable sources (categorized by the independent fact-checking organization media bias/fact-check), the researchers found similar diffusion patterns for reliable and questionable information. Their findings imply there is no discrimination between the reliability of source information when social media users share information with each other.

Some consequences of the infodemic are tangible—for example, the difficulty average consumers have in determining the accuracy of information complicates the interpretation of public health directives. However, in addition to the overt impact, the overload of information can take a toll on mental health. The stressors accompanying both the pandemic and infodemic can exacerbate psychological disorders, especially against a backdrop of increased isolation. The infodemic contributes to public distrust, increased stress, anxiety, and sleep disorders. In a study examining anxiety and sleep disturbance early in the COVID-19 pandemic, one study found that those most at risk were people who were exceptionally vigilant, constantly seeking information (high monitors) as well as people who sought to distract themselves, avoiding threatening information (high blunters). Their findings indicate the need to account for the interaction between social media use and behavior in assessing the impact of the pandemic on mental health.

COVID-19 and mental health

Beyond the direct health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative to consider the long-term, indirect consequences of the disease outbreak (economic instability, extended isolation and lockdown, delayed treatment for other health issues). The aggressive worldwide response to tackling the disease (lock-downs and curfews) has not been succeeded by equally aggressive policy to combat the mental health crisis primed by increased stressors and decreased access to support. Following increased reports of mental health consequences in Europe and China, a study of 10,368 citizens in the United States of America reports rates of high risk for suicidality and depression higher than averages from previous years, with heightened risk in socially vulnerable populations, such as Blacks, Hispanics, women, and younger respondents.

Researchers speculate it is still too early to understand the full brunt of the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, they call for an examination of some consequences that ought to be considered now. These include the fact that those with pre-existing mental health conditions may be at increased risk of exposure to and contraction of COVID-19, the potential of increased anxiety and depressive symptoms in those who did not previously report mental health conditions and the fact that mental health care providers themselves will likely be at heightened risk for contracting the virus, further straining the professional support system. Even as vaccines are developed for the virus and the world learns to adapt to the global presence of the disease, the impact of the psychological consequences is just beginning to be systematically investigated.

What role does social media play?

Several studies have already begun to investigate the potential mediating role of social media usage in the impact of the pandemic on mental health. A study in Chinese citizens revealed increased exposure to social media may increase anxiety or the combination of anxiety and depression in respondents. Another study focused specifically on those who were not infected by COVID-19 and found that while social media usage did not cause mental health issues, it did mediate the experience of traumatic emotions in response to COVID-19 news, increasing reports of stress, anxiety, depression, and vicarious trauma. Nevertheless, many participants also used social media to receive COVID-19 updates and peer support.

Adolescents may be a particularly vulnerable population to the disruption of their social lives. During adolescence, humans are uniquely sensitive to the perspectives of their peers, often making them the ideal consumer for social media platforms. As schools and extracurricular activities are closed, teenagers turn increasingly to social media for connecting with their peers. Much of the previous research investigating teenagers’ mental health and social media usage collapsed across websites, online activities, and applications, making it difficult to disentangle the consequences beyond “screen time”. It may be that screen time itself is less important than the activities teenagers are engaging in. During COVID-19, teenagers can use social media to share creative outlets, learn new skills, engage with their coursework, and connect with their peers. Nevertheless, they may also be more at risk of exposure to misinformation, and time engaging with social media may exacerbate negative emotional responses to the COVID-19 crisis.

Social media does present positive benefits to a world facing social separation, easing interpersonal connection and allowing for the fast transmission of information. Nevertheless, it also poses potential risks that should be considered as well. In order to fully establish the impact of COVID-19 on mental health and the role social media plays in the relationship, continued research must survey individuals from multiple age groups, cultural backgrounds, and countries to understand the impact on diverse populations. Preliminary research provides evidence that social media may increase stress and anxiety, potentially exacerbating underlying mental health issues, however, further research will need to establish the continued impact in coming years.

References +

Fitzpatrick, K. M., Harris, C. & Drawve, G. How bad is it? Suicidality in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Suicide Life Threat. Behav. 50, 1241–1249 (2020). Access the original scientific article here.

Cullen, W., Gulati, G. & Kelly, B. D. Mental health in the COVID-19 pandemic. QJM 113, 311–312 (2020). Access the original scientific article here.

Gao, J. et al. Mental health problems and social media exposure during COVID-19 outbreak. PLoS One 15, e0231924 (2020). Access the original scientific article here.

Rathore, F. A. & Farooq, F. Information Overload and Infodemic in the COVID-19 Pandemic. J. Pak. Med. Assoc. 70(Suppl 3), S162–S165 (2020). Access the original scientific article here.

Hamilton, J. L., Nesi, J. & Choukas-Bradley, S. Teens and social media during the COVID-19 pandemic: Staying socially connected while physically distant. (2020) doi:10.31234/osf.io/5stx4. Access the original scientific article here.

Cheng, C., Ebrahimi, O. V. & Lau, Y.-C. Maladaptive coping with the infodemic and sleep disturbance in the COVID-19 pandemic. J. Sleep Res. 30, e13235 (2021). Access the original scientific article here.

Cinelli, M. et al. The COVID-19 social media infodemic. Sci. Rep. 10, 16598 (2020). Access the original scientific article here.

Zhong, B., Jiang, Z., Xie, W. & Qin, X. Association of Social Media Use With Mental Health Conditions of Nonpatients During the COVID-19 Outbreak: Insights from a National Survey Study. J. Med. Internet Res. 22, e23696 (2020). Access the original scientific article here.