Ryan Linn
It’s no secret that sleep and recovery go hand in hand. Sleep is when your muscles repair, your energy stores refill, and your brain translates those hard hours of training into performance. (1,2)
Champions are built overnight - but many athletes struggle to get good quality sleep. The key to better sleep—and better performance—could be as simple as learning to control your breath.
Challenges with sleep can be a harsh reality for many athletes, shaped by the pressures of your unique environment. Rigorous training and competitive schedules are known to increase stress, hyper-arousal and anxiety in nights leading up to big games (3,4).
There can be a lot on your plate: the pressure of short-term contracts, injury fears, and the need to appear tough can leave many athletes feeling isolated and overwhelmed. Struggling in silence leads to disrupted sleep, further affecting their recovery and performance. (5)
As we’ve touched on in previous weeks, techniques like diaphragmatic and slow-paced breathing help lower stress and anxiety—two major sleep disruptors (6). By promoting relaxation and giving athletes like you better control over their mental state, breath-work makes it easier to transition into deep,restorative sleep.
Your vagus nerve is an important part of your nervous system that among many other things controls your mood, heart rate,blood pressure and breathing. When you keep these factors under control, your body is better at shifting into recovery mode, allowing you to fall asleep faster and experience deeper, more restorative sleep cycles. This translates to better muscle repair, enhanced cognitive function, and overall improved performance (7,8).
Down regulate your nervous system to prepare the body to sleep. Breath-work - in particular Humming Breath (Bhramari pranayama) - can improve this nervous system control (9).
Here’s how you can practice
Cut corners on sleep, and you’re cutting corners on performance—and even worse you’re more at risk of getting hurt. In a study of 112 adolescent athletes, those who slept less than 8 hours a night on average were 1.7 times more likely to sustain an injury. (11) Therefore it is of paramount importance that you get the sleep that you need to keep yourself match-fit and ready to go.
1) Peacock CA, Mena M, Sanders GJ,Silver TA, Kalman D, Antonio J. Sleep Data, Physical Performance, and Injuries in Preparation for Professional Mixed Martial Arts. Sports (Basel).2018;7(1):1. Published 2018 Dec 20. doi:10.3390/sports7010001
2) Watson AM. Sleep and AthleticPerformance. Curr Sports Med Rep. 2017;16(6):413-418.doi:10.1249/JSR.0000000000000418
3) Bender AM, Van Dongen HPA, SamuelsCH. Sleep Quality and Chronotype Differences between Elite Athletes andNon-Athlete Controls. Clocks Sleep. 2018;1(1):3-12. Published 2018 Sep 5.doi:10.3390/clockssleep1010002
4) Driller MW, Dunican IC, Omond SET,et al. Pyjamas, Polysomnography and Professional Athletes: The Role of SleepTracking Technology in Sport. Sports (Basel). 2023;11(1):14. Published 2023 Jan5. doi:10.3390/sports11010014
5) Souter G, Serrant L,Haines-Delmont A. How is men’s mental health affected within male professionalfootball? Manag Sport Leisure. 2024:1-15. doi:10.1080/23750472.2024.2369320
6) Fincham GW, Strauss C,Montero-Marin J, Cavanagh K. Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health:A meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials. Sci Rep. 2023;13(1):432.Published 2023 Jan 9. doi:10.1038/s41598-022-27247-y
7) Fincham GW, Strauss C,Montero-Marin J, Cavanagh K. Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health:A meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials. Sci Rep. 2023;13(1):432.Published 2023 Jan 9. doi:10.1038/s41598-022-27247-y
8) Zaccaro A, Piarulli A, Laurino M,et al. How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life: A Systematic Review onPsycho-Physiological Correlates of Slow Breathing. Front Hum Neurosci.2018;12:353. Published 2018 Sep 7. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353
9) Latha R, Radhakrishnan R, LakshmiS. A study on immediate and training effect of Bhramari pranayama on heart ratevariability in healthy adolescents. Biomedicine. 2022;42:784-788.doi:10.51248/.v42i4.1501.
10) Komori T. The relaxation effect ofprolonged expiratory breathing. Ment Illn. 2018;10(1):7669. Published 2018 May16. doi:10.4081/mi.2018.7669
11) Milewski MD, Skaggs DL, Bishop GA,et al. Chronic lack of sleep is associated with increased sports injuries inadolescent athletes. J Pediatr Orthop. 2014;34(2):129-133.doi:10.1097/BPO.0000000000000151
1) Peacock, C. A., Mena, M., Sanders, G. J., Silver, T.,Kalman, D., & António, J. (2018). Sleep data, physical performance, andinjuries in preparation for professional mixed martial arts. Sports, 7(1), 1.https://doi.org/10.3390/sports7010001
2) Watson, A. (2017). Sleep and athletic performance. CurrentSports Medicine Reports, 16(6), 413-418. https://doi.org/10.1249/jsr.0000000000000418
3) Bender, A.M., Dongen, H. P. A. V., & Samuels, C. (2018). Sleep quality and chronotypedifferences between elite athletes and non-athlete controls. Clocks &Amp;Sleep, 1(1), 3-12. https://doi.org/10.3390/clockssleep1010002
4) Driller,M., Dunican, I. C., Omond, S. E. T., Boukhris, O., Stevenson, S., Lambing, K.,… & Bender, A. M. (2023). Pyjamas, polysomnography and professionalathletes: the role of sleep tracking technology in sport. Sports, 11(1), 14. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports11010014
5) https://doi.org/10.1080/23750472.2024.2369320
6) Fincham GW, Strauss C,Montero-Marin J, Cavanagh K. Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health:A meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials. Sci Rep [Internet]. 2023[cited 2025 Feb 12]; 13(1):432. Available from:
7) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-27247-y.
8) https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353/full
9) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/363642227_A_study_on_immediate_and_training_effect_of_Bhramari_pranayama_on_heart_rate_variability_in_healthy_adolescents
10) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30046408/
11) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25028798/
