A smartphone enabled slow-paced breathing intervention in dual career athletes

Emma Mosley, Shelley Duncan, Kelly Jones, H. Herklots, Emma Kavanagh, Sylvain Laborde

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

64 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Dual career athletes are exposed to many stressors, for example, balancing deadlines with competition schedules. Slow-paced breathing (SPB) is an accessible relaxation technique, which can be practiced via smartphone applications, however delivery through applications has limited exploration. We discuss a four-week intervention delivered to dual career athletes which included screening stress and wellbeing, and a focus group discussion to capture athlete reflections on the SPB intervention. Athletes reported SPB reduced pre-performance anxiety, increased focus during performance, and increased relaxation before sleep. Findings suggest SPB is successfully delivered via smartphones, positively influences stress management, sleep and performance, and may be a simple tool for practitioners and athletes to utilize
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)149-164
Number of pages16
JournalJournal of Sport Psychology in Action
Volume15
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 8 Apr 2023

Cite this