Abstract
Although adolescent athletes face a wide variety of different stressors, various breathing techniques have shown to have a significant impact on cognitive functions and stress levels.
The objective of this scoping review is to identify, summarize, and analyse breathing techniques for the enhancement of cognitive functioning and stress reduction for a 14–17-year-old adolescent athlete population. Eight databases (Science Direct, Scopus, Cochrane, ProQuest, PsycINFO, Google Scholar, The Web of Science, and EBSCOhost Complete) were scanned for English-language research on breathing techniques used in adolescent sports environments from January 2000 to December 2023. Five articles were found eligible and implemented such techniques as heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback, slow-paced breathing, Yogic breathing techniques and relaxation breathing. The results showed significantly reduced anxiety, improved HRV indices, lung function and performance, changes in brain waves, significant prediction capability of biopsychosocial stress states and cognitive stress, improvement in positive affect, CO2 tolerance, psychological skills and responsiveness to stress. The included studies used a wide variety of different breathing techniques, and no clear consensus can be reached as to which breathing technique might be more prominent or useful. This scoping review provides the first look at this field for the adolescent athlete population.