What is Mental Calmness and Why Is it Important for Athletes?
When we experience mental calmness, we are able to fully focus, without distraction or stress, because our brains are free from clutter and worry. Of course, your brain is always bound to be a little bit distracted – it’s hard to focus fully on one single moment. But when we do experience mental calm, or something close to it, we are better at everything we do. Being able to focus completely on the task at hand, whether it’s another team on the field coming at you, a ball barreling your way, or the actions of a dozen fellow athletes, can make all the difference in the world for your game and everyday living.
One of the easiest ways to achieve mental calmness—without supplements, medications, or anything invasive—is to start with Cognitive Boost Technology™, which is a touch-based tech inside our smart compression sleeves. Just wearing a sleeve—which uses no electricity or batteries, and is completely safe—naturally stimulates specific neural receptors in the forearm that the brain translates as a “roadmap” for greater focus and reduced stress. This helps you to more easily react to what is happening in any athletic field or gaming situation, and to get the best results possible.
Of course, wearing smart compression is far from the only thing you can do. Mental calmness is the result of many activities that are designed to reduce stress, such as time management, setting expectations, practicing meditation, or scheduling days off.
For example, if today is the day of an important game, meditating after you wake up and taking a fifteen-minute walk before the game begins can make all the difference for your performance! And the best part about smart compression sleeves is that they can be worn during both activities to help you get the most out of them.
Progressive Relaxation for Physical and Mental Calmness
In 2021, Frontiers in Psychology published a study that wanted to see if there was a link between progressive relaxation techniques and athletic performance. According to Anxiety Canada, “people with anxiety difficulties are often so tense throughout the day that they don’t even recognize what being relaxed feels like. Through practice you can learn to distinguish between the feelings of a tensed muscle and a completely relaxed muscle.”1 You can do this by finding a quiet place to relax your body and begin tensing up all of the muscles in a single area of the body – for example, in one of your legs.
Once completely tensed, hold the position for a few seconds before relaxing completely. The study “showed a positive effect on sports performance defined by reaching one’s best records, suggesting that [progressive relaxation] may improve sports performance of collegiate track and field athletes.”2 Check out Anxiety Canada's website for a great guide on how to properly perform this amazing technique!
Mental calmness, a relaxed mind, and strong focus are amazing ways to improve your game and your mental health. It impacts your performance and ability to enjoy the game. Choose the techniques that work best for you, whether in meditating, walking, scheduling, practicing, or a technique like progressive relaxation, and stick to them. No matter which technique you choose, wearing one of our smart compression arm sleeves will help you get there faster. Achieving mental calmness is a great way to fully enjoy the games that you love, which is really what it’s supposed to be about!
--
1. https://www.anxietycanada.com/articles/how-to-do-progressive-muscle-relaxation/
2. Liang, D., Chen, S., Zhang, W., Xu, K., Li, Y., Li, D., & Cheng, H. (2021). Investigation of a Progressive Relaxation Training Intervention on Precompetition Anxiety and Sports Performance Among Collegiate Student Athletes. Frontiers in Psychology, NA. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A655339395/AONE?u=ko_acd_shc&sid=AONE&xid=c6675015