Impact of Meditation on Running Performance & Injury Risk
I fell upon meditation by happenstance when I was watching some equestrian master classes I subscribe to for my horse riding and training. I watched a lecture by sports psychologist Dr. Jenny Susser on the effect of meditation on regulating the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. She explains that meditation helps to down regulate the heightened amygdala (the flight or fight response), which the area in the brain that controls fear, anger, and anxiety.
Meditation for runners also increases the parasympathetic activity and strengthens the vagus nerve pathway which controls the rest and digestion of our body. This helps move oxygen to the neocortex, our executive decision making area in the brain, from our more primitive brain area, where the amygdala lives, which is the more reflexive area in our brain.
The reason learning about meditation is important In runners is that running can cause the body to stay in a heightened state of sympathetic tone, being that it is a stress response and activates that flight or fight response. Particularly since most runners run a lot, even daily. As we know, too much of anything isn’t good. I believe this may be one reason runners may have digestive issues. Staying in a constant states of sympathetic tone, many runners are constipated, or have a hard time sleeping and recovering from running and training and are at risk for injury. This may even contribute to REDS (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport). Maybe it not that we just need runners to eat more, but that they are not absorbing the good food they are eating since their parasympathetic tone is having a hard time with regulation.
This can all be mediated with mindfulness, meditation, and breath-work. Meditating for 20 minutes, twice a day for 90 days has been shown to shrink the size of the amygdala (area of fear, anxiety, steady, anger) and increase the size of the hippocampus (the area in our brain responsible for being happy and self efficacy). Meditation is a great strategy for runners to reduce stress.
The Insight timer app is a wonderful app for people just getting exposed to meditation, as it is guided and there are short 5-20 minute session options.
Here are some other tips for runners that are new to meditation:
Set aside the same time of day to meditate each day.
Sit or lay down. Think about being open in your stance - don’t have your legs or arms crossed.
Use guided meditation, whether from an app or a video.
Know that your mind will wander off. Don’t get frustrated or upset when this happens, just try to reclaim your focus.
Start small, with 3 or 5 minutes at a time, then build from there.
I think guided meditation can really help runners and all people in general! Particularly for type A “go go go” people! I started it out of curiosity after hearing about this meditation study a few weeks ago, and I have to say it has had a profound difference. I just don’t feel rushed all the time or in a hurry anymore which is amazing!!!! It has become my short 15-20 min morning routine when I wake up, and then go on my run! It just really gets your day off to a great start.
Want more information about meditation and how Dr. Davis includes it in her routine? Contact us with your questions.