Impact of mindfulness-based interventions on sports performance and mental health: An umbrella review.
Journal of exercise science and fitness October 1, 2025 Boyuan Xie, Siman Lei, Ngai Choi et al. 14 citations
An umbrella review of 15 systematic reviews and meta-analyses, encompassing 10,503 athletes, found that mindfulness-based interventions show positive trends for improving sports performance, mindfulness indicators, and mental health outcomes. However, substantial methodological heterogeneity across the primary studies and intervention protocols prevented definitive conclusions. Critically, 73% of the included reviews were rated as critically low methodological quality, and the remainder as low quality. While mindfulness-based interventions hold potential benefits for athletes, the evidence base is considerably weakened by the poor quality of existing systematic reviews, highlighting a pressing need for more rigorous methodologies and standardized protocols.