Conscious Breathing to Reduce Stress

In Edition #26, I wrote about Novak Djokovic's approach to his mental game. One of the tools he uses to keep calm in the heat of battle is conscious breathing. Although I touched on the 478 breathing technique in that edition, I thought I’d dig deeper into the science.

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Reduce Stress, Increase Focus

Deep breathing, conscious breathing, 478, or whatever you call it—these aren’t some woo-woo ideas based on anecdotes. There is science behind the benefits of conscious breathing and the ability to help reduce stress and increase focus.

“Part of our normal physiological reaction to stress is an increase in the activation of the sympathetic nervous system, our so-called “fight-or-flight” response. This activation includes increased blood pressure, increased heart rate and other physiological changes.”

This quote is from Jeanie Park, MD, a nephrologist and clinical specialist in hypertension. Whether warranted or not, stress leads to physical changes in the body. That stress response puts us into fight or flight, leading to irrational decision-making.

But there’s something we can do about that, on the course. And we do it all the time without thinking about it. Breathe—or conscious breathing, to be specific.

According to the Harvard Medical School:

“Deep abdominal breathing encourages full oxygen exchange — that is, the beneficial trade of incoming oxygen for outgoing carbon dioxide. Not surprisingly, it can slow the heartbeat and lower or stabilize blood pressure.”

Golf can be extremely stressful. If we had a monitor hooked up to us during a round, there would be peaks and valleys in our temperament, blood pressure, and heart rate. After shanking a drive OB? Or maybe before a tricky shot that could mean disaster?

By consciously controlling our breathing patterns, we can lower our stress responses. And we can do that while on the tee box, walking up to our next shot, or waiting for our playing partners to hit.

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Better Decision Making

In a state of stress, we make irrational decisions. On the course, poor decision-making can kill our scores, leading to even more stress.

Again, from Harvard Medical School:

“When we are in a highly stressed state, our prefrontal cortex — the part of our brain responsible for rational thinking — is impaired, so logic seldom helps to regain control. This can make it hard to think straight or be emotionally intelligent with your team. But with breathing techniques, it is possible to gain some mastery over your mind.”

Whether you breathe slowly, do the 478 technique or whatever method works; try breathing next time you are on the course. By simply taking the time to breathe, you might find golf just a bit easier.

I leave you with one final quote and some video resources below.

“Slow breathing can be done anywhere and is noninvasive. “That’s the wonderful thing about it. There are no side effects. It’s cheap. And everyone has had the experience of taking a single deep breath—you take one, and you feel it; it’s relaxing. Imagine doing that for 30 minutes and on a regular basis.”

Jack Feldman, PhD

Til next week.

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Resources:

Lately, breathing techniques have become more mainstream due to the popularity of YouTube and Podcast personalities like Stanford Neuroscientist Dr. Andew Huberman. In the video below, Huberman discusses how breathing can reduce stress.

Here’s another video from Debbie Lyn Toomey, RN, BSN, CIPP, explaining how to reduce stress with the 2:1 breathing technique.

This video goes quickly over three different breathing techniques: cyclic sighing, 478 technique, and box breathing.