Positive Effects of Diaphragmatic Breathing on Physiological Stress Reactivity in Varsity Athletes
Abstract
This study compared deep diaphragmatic breathing (DB) versus paced breathing and progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) on indices of physiological stress reactivity in 76 varsity athletes. Athletes were trained in paced breathing, and then randomized to either DB or PMR, and underwent a cognitive stressor task. DB resulted in significantly higher tidal volume compared to PMR and paced breathing. DB also resulted in lower heart rate than PMR. Finally, DB resulted in significantly higher heart rate variability (HRV) than PMR, but not compared to simple paced breathing. Both groups reported feeling significantly more relaxed after the intervention than after paced breathing. The DB group reported a trend toward greater relaxation than the PMR group. Slow DB is an easy to teach tool that may give athletes an edge on successfully managing stress reactivity, whether they are preparing for a test or for competition.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Voluntary regulated breathing practices may offer an effective, accessible, and risk-free solution for stress and anxiety.
“Voluntary regulated breathing practices may offer such a solution.”
Breathing engages in a reciprocal relationship with stress and anxiety, whereby stress and anxiety can both affect and be affected by altered respiratory patterns.
“Breathing also uniquely engages in a reciprocal relationship with stress and anxiety, whereby stress and anxiety can both affect [28,29,30,31,32,33] and be affected by [20,21,22,34] altered respiratory patterns.”
No citation lists for this paper
No citation lists for this paper yet — checked again daily.
References 44 · Cited by 21
- Authors
- Hunt, M. G., Rushton, J., Shenberger, E., & Murayama, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Corresponding author
- Hunt, Melissa G.
- Venue
- Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology
- Publisher
- Human Kinetics
- Published
- 2018-03
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 27-38
- ISSN
- 1932-9261 (ISSN-L)
- 1932-927X
- OpenAlex
- W2790744632
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 1.15
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Sport Psychology and Performance
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Keywords
- diaphragmatic breathing, paced breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, physiological stress reactivity, athletes, heart rate variability, heart rate, tidal volume, relaxation, stress management
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
