Harmanpreet Kaur, captain of the India women's national cricket team, is among elite athletes advocating for mouth-taping, a breathing technique that helps improve endurance and general wellness
What바카라s common between Manchester City superstar Erling Haaland, World No. 1 tennis player Iga Swiatek and India cricket captain (except they are all elite, widely followed athletes)? The trio is among the proponents of nasal-breathing through mouth-taping 바카라 an increasingly popular technique sportspersons across many disciplines the world over are adopting at training and beyond. (More Cricket news)
The benefits of mouth-taping are manifold. Athletes typically adopt it to improve endurance, considering breathing through one바카라s nose requires more effort than doing the same through the mouth. The usefulness of the practice ranges beyond athletic gains, too, and includes enhancing general wellness.
Harmanpreet is arguably the first active India women바카라s cricketer to practise, and extol the benefits of, mouth-taping at the international level. While batting at the nets during India Women바카라s ongoing home season, featuring England and Australia, which began last month in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, she has been spotted taking throwdowns and facing bowlers at training with her mouth taped with a white strip several times.
More often than not, the 34-year-old batting all-rounder has been seen resorting to the tape closer to the end of her batting sessions, which usually last anywhere between 30-45 minutes overall per day. On Friday, the eve of India바카라s T20I series opener against Australia at the DY Patil Stadium, Harmanpreet revealed that she has reposed her trust in the technique for several months now not only at training but also during bedtime.
바카라I have been following that method for close to a year and a half now because I have this natural habit of breathing through my mouth, which is not good. So, my [personal] fitness trainer, Sagar Diwan, advised that I try this method out,바카라 Harmanpreet said in response to a question from Outlook India. "I mostly try it out at the nets, but also when I am at home, I put a tape on my mouth, and even while sleeping, so I can breathe through my nose. I think that helps me a lot. That's the only reason why I tape my mouth.바카라
International breath-training coach Patrick McKeown told The Athletic last September that the practice was not a new fitness fad or sleep hack. 바카라We바카라ve have been taping mouths for 25 years,바카라 he said. Both and have, however, played an indisputable part in mainstreaming the conversation as have TikTok videos and a growing canon of books on the subject. Joining the duo in the burgeoning line of top-drawer athletes to adopt the method is Harmanpreet, who was named on TIME magazine바카라s 100 Next and the BBC바카라s 100 Women line-up in 2023.
바카라Whenever I used to train with my trainer, Sagar, he would point out my tendency of inhaling through my mouth, and how it's not advisable to do so for not only athletes but non-athletes, too. He advised that when I am batting or doing anything in general, I should consider putting a strip of tape on my mouth, because it would create a better flow and process overall with my breath 바카라 both when inhaling and exhaling -- and that it could improve the clarity of my mind and aid in decision-making,바카라 adds the Indian women's team captain.
Among recent instances in the realm of top-flight professional sport, mouth-taping first made headlines last August, when Swiatek of Poland was pictured practising with a strip of tape on her mouth in Montreal. The 22-year-old multiple Grand Slam champion told the media during the Omnium Banque Nationale tournament in the Canadian city that 바카라it바카라s the way to kind of work on my endurance by not having me run so fast and do extreme things 바카라 For sure you can see the difference in how everything you do on the court is getting more and more hard with that tape on your mouth.바카라
A few days later, 23 year-old footballing wunderkind Haaland revealed he sleeps with his mouth taped shut. 바카라I think sleep is the most important thing in the world. So, to sleep good, simple kind of things 바카라 blue blocking glasses, shutting out all the signals in the bedroom, I think is really important,바카라 he said on Logan Paul's 바카라Impaulsive바카라 podcast and YouTube show. 바카라[It바카라s about] small things. I think to do a lot of things is not good but to do small things every single day for a longer period really pays off.바카라
Harmanpreet, Outlook India understands, has grown so comfortable with breathing through mouth-taping that, according to her own assessment, she would be at ease if required to have her mouth taped through the entire course of a day and rely solely on breathing through her nose.
As far as the Indian women바카라s cricket team goes, no other playing personnel on it is known to be a practitioner of the technique. Harmanpreet, however, said that her unique training method piques the interest of her colleagues every now and then
"A couple of my team-mates have asked me why I have my mouth taped at training and the benefits I stand to gain from it,바카라 Harmanpreet, who also captains the (WPL) side , explained. 바카라My personal view of it is that my breathing technique wasn't right and meditation is something I am usually not able to do much, so this nasal-breathing process feels like a similar, natural way of doing meditation, which requires you be mindful of breathing in and out of your nose
"So, I feel this is the easiest way to do that, so my trainer came up with this advice, and it's been very beneficial to me. Whenever I feel I need to do it more regularly, I make sure to incorporate it into my nets training."
Like Haaland, Harmanpreet, too, applies tape on her mouth as part of her bedtime routine to assist the passage of air through the nasal route.
"Whenever I feel any discomfort with my breathing patterns, I try to sleep with a mouth taped," said Harmanpreet.
This is not the first out-of-the-box element Harmanpreet, who has nearly 300 caps from her near-15-year-long international career, has integrated into her training regimen in recent years, though. One of the most fearsome big-hitters in the women바카라s game, she memorably 바카라 and for several months 바카라 used a golf club as part of her warm-up drills ahead of batting, as was notably in view during the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, where she led the Indian cricket team to a historic silver medal.
The equipment, however, has ceased to be a staple in her training routine over recent months.
"I encountered some back issues some time back, so I discontinued using the golf club,바카라 Harmanpreet said. 바카라The idea behind using it in the first was to help with my hand swing. But it's quite heavy. It's not a normal golf club; it's one that's used at practice. So, because of the troubles I was having with my back, I stopped using it.
바카라It's still in my kit bag, but I have not used it in the past 6-7 months. I have been looking for alternatives and trying some of them out."
If any of them click, a run-parched Harmanpreet might be a story of the past and could necessitate some innovation on the part of the bowlers for a change.
Annesha Ghosh is an independent sports journalist.