Breathing to Improve Performance

“What has to be taught first, is the breath.” — Confucius

If sleep is the least expensive performance enhancer, breathing is the most plentiful performance enhancer. Everyone breathes, but some athletes learn to attend to and control their breathing, improving their health and performance. Breathing control specifically can improve recovery and decrease anxiety within competition and facilitate health and recovery over the long term.

Voluntary control of breathing alters autonomic responses and the cardiovascular system (Guyenet, 2014; Zaccaro et al., 2018). During voluntary slow-paced breathing (VSB) with six breath cycles per minute (reduced from 12-20 cpm), one controls inhalation and exhalation, exhaling for longer than inhaling (Sherwood, 2005). Its purpose is to promote physical and mental health through the activation of the vagus nerve, the main nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system (Russo et al., 2017; Brodal, 2004; Gerritsen et al., 2018). VSB improves health and stress physiology, enhancing the autonomic nervous system, cardiopulmonary, and neuroendocrine functions and decreasing anxiety and arousal (Russo et al., 2017). VSB has been shown to decrease heart rates and blood pressure, and improve oxygenation and exercise performance (Russo et al., 2017). VSB can reduce stress and anxiety improving athletes’ mental states and performances under pressure (Migliaccio et al., 2023).

A simple in-game technique is box breathing: (1) Inhale deeply through your nose while counting to four; (2) hold your breath for a four-count; (3) exhale slowly through your mouth for a four-count; (4) count to four; (5) repeat. Reducing stress and anxiety through breath control may enhance free-throw performance, as an example (Russo et al., 2017). Controlling one’s breathing also improves performance because heavy breathing reduces free-throw shooting accuracy (Giancamilli et al., 2022). Free throws are not the only time to use breathing techniques, but the most specific and immediately impactful. The same techniques can be used on the bench to recover or reduce anxiety and during timeouts to promote recovery. Steph Curry can coax his heart rate below 80 during a 90-second timeout through breathing techniques and his conditioning (Fleming, 2021). A quicker recovery improves subsequent performance and decreases feelings of fatigue and anxiety.

The body is smart and naturally gravitates toward a hands-on-knees position. Physiological evidence suggests this position is more efficient and improves recovery (Michaelson et al., 2019). Putting hands on their knees increases oxygen intake compared to putting their hands on their heads, assists with the elimination of carbon dioxide after hard bouts of exercise, and improves heart-rate recovery (Michaelson et al., 2019). A posture with arms braced increases the force generation and endurance capacity of the respiratory muscles (Cavalheri et al., 2010). This position facilitates improved breathing and recovery after hard bouts of exercise.

Humans have a large cavity and area for expansion in our ribcage: The posterior mediastinum (Michaelson et al., 2019). The hands-on-knees position expands this area by positioning the ribs to achieve a zone of apposition (ZOA; Michaelson et al., 2019). The ZOA is controlled by the abdominal muscles and directs the diaphragm’s tension; its optimization enables the diaphragm to operate with maximal efficiency (Boyle et al., 2010). Expanding the ZOA through the hands-on-knees position improves breathing and recovery.

Recovery

Breathing techniques can promote health, recovery, and performance outside competition, especially when included as a regular part of one’s training or lifestyle. Slow breathing increases the amount of oxygen reaching the body’s cells, improving overall health (Migliaccio et al., 2023) and has been shown to reduce blood pressure (Russo et al., 2017). Long-term use of VSB enhances the ability to regulate emotions, increases resilience to stress, and improves executive functions, such as attention, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, in athletes (Laborde et al., 2021; Laborde et al., 2022). VSB induces a functional state of alert relaxation and can boost memory consolidation (Pattyn et al., 2024)

Optimal breathing at rest is diaphragmatic, nasal (inhalation and exhalation), smooth, deep, even, quiet, and free of pauses (Sovik, 2000; Pattyn et al., 2024). Using diaphragmatic breathing to relax after exhaustive exercise decreases cortisol and oxidative stress, and increases melatonin in athletes (Martarelli et al., 2011). Cortisol, measured by saliva, is associated with stress related to competition (Aubets & Segura, 1995), whereas melatonin reduces arousal and increases the propensity for sleep (Dawson & Encel, 1993).

Diaphragmatic breathing involves full expansion of the abdomen, followed by full expansion of the rib cage, and is integral to efficient, deep breathing (Pattyn et al., 2024). The lungs fill from bottom to top, increasing the inhaled air and thus the oxygenated blood available (Ungerleider, 2005). The goal is to be aware of one’s breath, making it slower and deeper (Pattyn et al., 2024). Training one’s breath increases the ability to sustain relaxed attention on the flow of breath, controls respiratory movements for optimal breathing, and integrates awareness of breathing to reduce stress and enhance psychological functioning (Sovik, 2000; Pattyn et al., 2024).

Few people beyond those who practice meditation or yoga think about their breathing, which creates an advantage for athletes who learn to attend to and control their breathing. Breath control has benefits in and out of competition, but athletes need to practice their mindful breathing, just as they practice any skill. Post-practice sessions of diaphragmatic breathing may have an outsized positive affect over time compared to the required cost (financial and time). Improvement is not solely about the time spent on the court.

References

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