About me
I’m Carla Alfonso, Ph.D., and my journey sits at the intersection of neuroscience (Bachelors degree), sport psychology (Masters and PhD), and coaching (ICF-Certification). While being different disciplines, I believe they work synergistically, with each discipline bringing unique perspectives and tools to help athletes grow, perform and thrive. Precisely, my interest is bridging the gap between science and sport. This comes from my academic background combined with hands-on experience working with athletes in real-world environments. (You can learn more about my background on LinkedIn.)
For more than five years I’ve had the privilege of supporting amateur and professional athletes, together with their teams. I believe that every athlete deserves compassionate, personalised support, and this is why my sessions are collaborative and tailored to your goals, whether that’s setting personal records, navigating a team environment or (re)building confidence. My work is grounded in science, but aimed to be delivered with warmth, clarity and practicality.
I founded NeuroAthleta to help athletes improve both their well-being and performance by focusing on the (often) overlooked mental and lifestyle factors behind training. Through this approach, I can help you with:
Emotional regulation (e.g., pressure, focus, stress, fears)
Self-confidence, identity, and mental resilience
Understanding and monitoring HRV to reflect on training load, life stressors, and recovery strategies
This approach is rooted in a simple belief: performance isn’t only about physical training. It’s shaped by your mind, your physiology, and the everyday choices that influence sleep, stress, recovery, and the delicate balance between the latest two. After all, you can’t fully reduce stress if your sleep or nutrition are consistently off. That’s why NeuroAthleta sees the athlete as a whole person, and provides tailored tools and exercises, grounded on mental training and lifestyles strategies.
In practice, I work across two complementary areas—Sport Psychology & Mental Coaching and HRV & Lifestyle—which can be explored individually or combined, depending on your needs.
Articles
Here is a selection of peer-reviewed publications and articles I (co)authored.
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Alfonso, C., Haydt, V., Allen, M. S., Capdevila, L., & Laborde, S. (2025). Monitoring training adaptation: a scoping review of the relationship between self-reported subjective variables and resting vagally-mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) in adult athletes. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 1–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750984X.2025.2541350
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Alfonso, C., Clarke, D. C., & Capdevila, L. (2025). Individual training prescribed by heart rate variability, heart rate and well-being scores in experienced cyclists. Scientific reports, 15(1), 34023. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-13540-z
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Alfonso, C., Garcia-Gonzalez, M.A., Parrado, E. et al. Agreement between two photoplethysmography-based wearable devices for monitoring heart rate during different physical activity situations: a new analysis methodology. Sci Rep 12, 15448 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-18356-9
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Estrella, T., Alfonso, C., Ramos-Castro, J., Alsina, A., & Capdevila, L. (2023). A Serious Game to Self-Regulate Heart Rate Variability as a Technique to Manage Arousal Level Through Cardiorespiratory Biofeedback: Development and Pilot Evaluation Study. JMIR serious games, 11, e46351. https://doi.org/10.2196/46351
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Alfonso, C., & Capdevila, L. (2022). Heart rate variability, mood and performance: a pilot study on the interrelation of these variables in amateur road cyclists. PeerJ, 10, e13094. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13094
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Laborde, S., Ackermann, S., Alfonso, C. et al. The use of vagaly-mediated heart rate variability in monitoring and optimizing the physical and mental preparation of Olympic athletes. The Inquisitive Mind, (2024).
English, German & Dutch: Link to English, German and Dutch version
Spanish: Link to Spanish version
Portuguese: Link to Portuguese version
Turkish: Link to Turkish version
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Capdevila L, Losilla JM, Alfonso C, Estrella T, Lalanza JF. Physical activity and planetary health: A scoping review. J Sci Med Sport. 2025 Jan;28(1):56-68. doi: 10.1016/j.jsams.2024.07.012. PMID: 39164187.
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