Key result
Breath-based interventions can regulate autonomic arousal and emotion to impact elite athlete well-being and performance.
Why the study?
To review the scientific and psychophysiological foundations of neurovisceral integration and the role breath-based interventions play in regulating mind-body interactions affecting well-being and performance in elite athletes and coaches.
Breath-based interventions within a neurovisceral integration framework can guide sports mental health providers in improving autonomic regulation, performance consistency, stress control, mental well-being, and restorative sleep in elite athletes and coaches.
May inform autonomic regulation in elite athletes; hypothesis-generating and should not yet change practice.
Background: This narrative review discusses the historical development of the scientific and psychophysiological foundations of neurovisceral integration and the key role that breath-based interventions can play in the regulation of mind-body interactions ultimately impacting well-being and performance in elite athletes and coaches. Methods: A literature review was conducted for articles published from 2000 to 2025 using the key words: neurovisceral integration, breathing techniques, autonomic regulation, sports performance, life balance, mental well-being, elite athletes, elite coaches. The historical underpinnings of a neurovisceral integration framework and current concepts of autonomic regulation for guiding breath-base interventions and their impact are reviewed. Results: By translating autonomic regulation theory into breath-based interventions, we describe their impact on the regulation of cognition, emotion, attention, autonomic arousal, neuromuscular efficiency, and somatic/kinetic chain activation domains. Five specific breathing techniques are described and their application to these six domains are elucidated. Four anonymized case illustrations from the first author’s practice from different sports are presented and the integration strategies of these breath-based in each are discussed in detail. Conclusion: Breath-based interventions within a neurovisceral integration framework provide sports mental health providers with guidance to their use for autonomic regulation, performance consistency, stress control, mental well-being and restorative sleep.
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McDuff et al. (2026) conducted a review in Well-being and performance in elite athletes and coaches. Breath-based interventions was evaluated. Breath-based interventions within a neurovisceral integration framework can regulate cognition, emotion, and autonomic arousal to impact well-being and performance in elite athletes and coaches.
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