Training the Autonomic Nervous System: Techniques for Enhanced Resilience Through TeamBuildr

Author Melissa Mercado is TeamBuildr's Tactical Manager and an accomplished strength & conditioning professional.

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) plays a vital role in regulating involuntary functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, and digestion. It operates automatically to maintain homeostasis in response to internal and external changes. The ANS is divided into two main parts:

1. Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) – The "fight or flight" system, responsible for activating the body's stress response.
2. Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) – The "rest and digest" system, which promotes recovery and relaxation.
   
   

Given service members' high-stress environments, understanding and optimizing the ANS is essential for improving performance, resilience, and overall well-being. Now, how can we utilize TeamBuildr to do just that?

Training Methods for Optimizing the ANS through TeamBuildr

To enhance both physical and mental readiness, training methods targeting the ANS are crucial. This can include using biofeedback, subjective questionnaires, mindfulness, and breathing techniques. We are going to take a look at TWO of the many ways how we can use TeamBuildr to optimize the ANS for enhanced resilience.

1. Enhancing Biofeedback with Customizable Questionnaires

TeamBuildr’s customizable questionnaires are a tool that can be used to gather self-reported data on various factors affecting a service member’s health and readiness. These subjective questionnaires can track various aspects such as mental health, sleep quality, nutrition, spiritual resilience, and social well-being. TeamBuildr’s customizable questionnaires give coaches the ability to create their questionnaires to ask anything they would like. By using these questionnaires, we can gain a better understanding of an individual or group’s stress levels, recovery, and overall performance, which all play a vital role in optimizing the ANS.

Key Benefits of Customizable Questionnaires:

• Holistic Performance Tracking: Beyond physical fitness, it helps track mental, spiritual, emotional, and social readiness.
• Personalized Feedback: They provide service members an opportunity for self-reflection and after-action reports, helping them make adjustments to optimize their performance and well-being.

Incorporating subjective feedback allows coaches and practitioners to design training programs in TeamBuildr tailored to each member’s unique needs. For example, questions about sleep quality or stress levels can reveal patterns of chronic stress or insufficient recovery, leading to interventions like meditation, journaling, or breathwork.

Example TeamBuildr Customizable Questionnaires:

• Readiness Questionnaire: Tracks mood, sleep, and overall well-being.
• RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion): Assesses the difficulty of a session.
• After Action Questionnaire: Evaluate and reflect on performance.
• Spiritual Resilience: Reflects on purpose and values.
• Sports Medicine Assessment: Evaluates injury history and recovery.

By using these tools, coaches can track and optimize their service members’ ANS regulation directly within TeamBuildr customizable questionnaires, improving both their resilience and mission readiness.

Pre-Training Readiness Questionnaire

Post-Training RPE Questionnaire

2. The Power of Mindfulness and Breathing

Mindfulness and breathing exercises are powerful tools for regulating the ANS, especially during high-stress situations. While they may seem simple, their impact on performance and well-being is profound.

• Mindfulness helps manage stress, reduce anxiety, and improve focus. It aids in returning to a state of calm after stressors, enhancing operational readiness and performance.
• Breathing Exercises like box breathing and diaphragmatic breathing are proven to calm the nervous system, lower heart rate, and reduce stress. Box breathing (inhale for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold for 4) is especially useful during high-pressure tasks like shooting or physical tests.

Both mindfulness and breathing exercises can be practiced regularly to help service members regulate their ANS and improve performance under pressure. These techniques can be easily integrated into TeamBuildr through mindfulness prompts, breathing exercises, and guided meditation videos in your programming.

How Mindfulness and Breathing Techniques Enhance Performance:

• Mindfulness: By staying present and focused, mindfulness helps service members improve decision-making and situational awareness in high-stress environments. Practicing mindfulness before engaging in a critical task can lower stress, enhance focus, and sharpen mental clarity.
• Breathing Techniques: Deep breathing helps control the body’s physiological stress response. Integrating breathing exercises into TeamBuildr allows service members to reset their nervous system before, during, and after stressful tasks, helping them stay calm and focused.

Real-World Application Beyond the Field

These tools don’t just benefit service members in tactical settings, they also improve emotional regulation and mental clarity in everyday life. Whether dealing with a busy schedule, tough relationships, or fatigue, mindfulness and breathing techniques can help service members manage stress and maintain focus outside the field.

How to Integrate Mindfulness and Breathing into Your Programming:

1. Mindfulness Sessions: Incorporate mindfulness practices into TeamBuildr, including pre-mission preparation, post-mission reflection, or during recovery periods.
2. Breathing Exercises: Add breathing exercises to warm-ups, cool-downs, or recovery sessions. Track their effectiveness to monitor stress management and performance.
3. Consistent Tracking and Feedback: Use TeamBuildr’s reporting and habit tracking to monitor individual progress, customize programming, and assess recovery or readiness.

By making these practices part of your service members' everyday routine, we not only enhance their immediate readiness but also their long-term resilience and well-being.

Application: A Week of ANS Training for Service Members

To integrate these techniques into a routine, here's an example of a one-week training program designed to enhance ANS regulation through subjective questionnaires, mindfulness, and breathing exercises.

Day 1 (Monday) – Long Ruck PT

• Pre-Ruck: Complete Readiness Questionnaire, followed by Box Breathing (4x).
• Post-Ruck: 10-Minute Guided Meditation, followed by Session RPE Questionnaire.

Day 2 (Tuesday) – Full Body Strength PT (Gym)

• Pre-Training: Complete Readiness Questionnaire, followed by Diaphragmatic Breathing (10 breaths) and Journaling in TeamBuildr.
• Post-Training: 5-Minute Mindfulness session before cool down.

Day 3 (Wednesday) – Rest Day

• Focus on mindfulness throughout the day.
• Take end-of-day Recovery Questionnaire and reflect on stress mitigation.

Day 4 (Thursday) – Field Day PT

• Pre-Testing: 10-Minute Guided Meditation to reduce stress.
• Post-Testing: Post-Training Stress Evaluation, followed by Diaphragmatic Breathing (10 breaths) and Journaling in TeamBuildr.

Day 5 (Friday) – Full Body Strength PT (Gym)

• Pre-Training: Readiness Questionnaire, followed by Diaphragmatic Breathing (10 breaths).
• Post-Training: Session RPE Questionnaire, followed by Box Breathing (4x) to cool down.

Conclusion

Training the autonomic nervous system (ANS) through simple but effective techniques in TeamBuildr, like subjective questionnaires, mindfulness, and breathing exercises can enhance resilience, improve performance, and optimize readiness in service members. These practices allow individuals to regulate stress responses, build mental resilience, and recover more effectively.

By regularly integrating mindfulness and breath work, service members gain valuable tools to manage stress and improve focus during high-stakes operational tasks and daily life. These methods help maintain a calm and clear mind, which is essential for making quick decisions and staying sharp under pressure.

The use of TeamBuildr’s customizable questionnaires provides coaches and practitioners with valuable insights into individual stress responses, allowing for more targeted interventions and more personalized training programs. By understanding each service member’s unique needs and challenges, we can optimize their ANS regulation and overall performance.

I encourage you to try incorporating these training methods into your daily routine, whether you're a coach, practitioner, or service member. The benefits will be felt not only in mission readiness but also in overall well-being. Share your experiences with mindfulness and breathing techniques and let’s continue to refine and optimize our approach to human performance.