How does good mental health improve sports performance?

Mindfulness and Social support to get an edge over the opponents.

According to a study by Keith Kaufman, the concept of mindfulness can be beneficial, via a program to help athletes and coaches at all levels develop that mental edge and improve their performance. Another research indicates that sportsmen and women could get the edge over their opponents by accepting more emotional support in their personal and professional lives.

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness entails being aware of the present moment and accepting things as they are without judgment. When people are able simply to watch experiences come and go, rather than latch onto and overthink them, they are better able to intentionally shift their focus to their performance rather than distracting negative experiences such as anxiety, Kaufman said.

“For example, an athlete could identify that ‘right now, I’m having the thought that I can’t finish this race,’ so rather than reflecting an objective truth, it’s seen as just a thought,” said Kaufman.

How can you implement mindfulness in training sessions?

The program cited by Kaufman, consists of six group-based sessions that contain educational, discussion, and experiential components, as well as recommendations for daily home practice. “The training begins with sedentary mindfulness practice, where participants are instructed to focus on experiences like eating and breathing, but gradually more and more movement is incorporated, culminating in a sport-specific meditation in which athletes or coaches apply a mindful style of attention to their actual sport performance. In addition to formal exercises, the program emphasizes informal mindfulness practice, which involves engaging in daily activities with mindful intention, helping participants to integrate mindfulness into their workouts, practices, and competitions, as well as everyday life,” says the study published in the Science Daily website.

The training can be adapted to accommodate the amateur level of sport to professional and can be used by a single performer or by those in other high-pressure domains such as the performing arts or business.

How can social support improve performance?

A sympathetic ear or regular words of encouragement can improve sports performance. The researchers have tested the importance of social support by providing individually tailored support to sportsmen and then measuring its impact on performance.

Dr. Paul Freeman of the University of Exeter, the lead author of the study published in the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, “It is significant that the support I offered, as a relative stranger, had such a marked influence on golfer’s results. The findings suggest that amateur and professional athletes would benefit from seeking social support, whether this is from a friend or family member or even from a professional.”

It has been demonstrated that social support affects a variety of aspects of life, including job performance. The findings can be relevant in many other contexts.

As Virat Kohli puts it in his interview with ICC, “I’m a human at the end of the day and that should be a thing or a space for people to say, ‘If he can experience this, relax it’s normal to feel this way’. It’s not abnormal, talk about it and discuss it with people. No one will think you are weak. You will get help from people you never imagined, but we don’t speak because we are hesitant. We don’t want to be looked at as mentally weak. Trust me, faking to be strong is far worse than that. I’m not feeling any shame that I was feeling mentally weak.”

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Source: www.sciencedirect.com; www.sciencedaily.com; www.hbr.org; www.kheljournal.com; www.icc-cricket.com