Arousal Can Be Defined as an Imbalance Between Demand and Response Capabilities.

Whether it's before exams, tryouts, races, or auditions, at to the lowest degree once in a while nosotros all experience heart palpitations, sweaty palms, and collywobbles in our stomach. Athletes tend to label these phenomena as 'stress' or 'anxiety.' When sport psychologists are presented with such issues, they will commonly check to come across if athletes are able to empathize the causes of their stress, make psychosomatic links of the symptoms they experience, and reverberate on them. To a sport psychologist, information technology'south always important to make sense of where the athletes' negative emotions stalk from, before knowing how to manage them.

Information technology is important to recognise signs of stress and anxiety and and so observe approaches to cope with them. Photo: Alexis Berg / Grand Trail

The Stress Process

Technically, stress is defined every bit "a substantial imbalance between demand and response adequacy, under atmospheric condition where failure to meet that demand has important consequences."¹ Stress is usually experienced and responded to in these four steps:

1.  An individual faces a demand.
2. The private's perception of the demand.
3. The concrete and psychological responses to the demand.
4. The outcome or behaviour.

Knowing these, let's put ourselves into an athlete's shoes: Maya has never run an ultra marathon before, and her coach is at present inviting her to run the ultra 100km. The demand that is being placed on Maya is the invitation. Now, this demand influences Maya'southward perception of running the ultra. If Maya is the sort of person who embraces challenges, she will not run across this demand as a major threat. Her reactions to the need may be minimal, which may not affect her stress levels equally much. However, if Maya feels threatened to take to run into this need, her level of stress will increment, impacting her physical and psychological response, which may influence her performance.

Why Do We Feel Stressed and Broken-hearted?

1. Situational Forces

Issue importance: Some people are only stressed during of import situations.^two If there was only in one case trial for qualifying to run in an important race, one might perceive this situation equally stressful.

Dubiety: It has been constitute that the greater the incertitude, the college the stress level.² Some of the uncertainties of a race include not being able to fully see the course or trail, and thus be unable to plan alee, or not knowing what to await while having to run through an injury, etc. Importantly, uncertainties that create stress are usually out of ane's command.

2. Trait Anxiety

While some are more stressed in certain situations and less so in others, stress and anxiety can too exist trait-like. This is an anxiety disposition that causes a person to view competition as more or less threatening.¹ People with higher trait anxiety will tend to option out more than threat-related information than their less-broken-hearted counterparts.

Finding Your Optimal Arousal Level

Back in 1997, Russian sports psychologist Yuri Hanin discovered that athletes have an optimal zone for feet in which all-time performance occurs.^ane Therefore, he suggested that ane of the most constructive ways to achieve peak operation in sport is to be more than aware of your optimal arousal level, and use coping strategies to optimise stress and feet so that peak performances tin can occur more than often. (Tips on how to observe your optimal arousal level are coming in the next event.)

Recognising Signs of Stress and Feet

Every athlete'southward signs or patterns of stress may differ. During stress, i person may experience headaches and have difficulty concentrating, while some other may feel the need to urinate frequently. However, the symptoms themselves don't affair so much — the key is to discover when they happen, the change in these variables during high- and depression-stress environments, and subsequent coping approaches.¹

Coping Strategies to Relieve Anxiety

1. Problem-focused coping: The efforts to change or manage the problem that is causing the stress. This coping skill is normally used when one deals with the environmental demand through performing an action, such every bit seeking support from others, reducing negative thoughts, having amend time direction, etc. For instance, waking upwards late and having to rush to the outset line causes unwanted stress. Notwithstanding, poor time management is something within control and tin exist avoided altogether. One coping strategy is to set 2-iii alarm clocks to allow yourself ample time for traffic, or to pack your race gear the night before the event.
2. Emotion-focused coping: The efforts to regulate emotional responses to the problem that is causing the stress. This coping skill is usually used when the individual's stress is out of control. Unexpected events, like bad weather and race delays, cause stress merely are uncontrollable. Coping strategies like relaxation or meditation are employed to bring stress levels downwardly.

Anecdotal Tips for Runners

1. Stay focused on the nowadays moment: Many athletes like to focus on 'winning' — but the letters West.I.N. can also stand for 'What'southward Important Now.' This idea is central in helping you minimise self-doubtfulness and focus on what'due south really of import for performing well. This is seen as a problem-focused coping strategy, wherein you end negative thoughts and replace them with things that truly affair.
2. Deep breathing: Many athletes breathe with their lungs instead of their diaphragm, which increases hypertension and stress.³ Make sure that your stomach expands out when you exhale in, and in when you breathe out. This is a type of relaxation technique (i.e., emotion-focused coping) called 'rhythmic animate,' and it tin be proficient regularly, anywhere, even onsite right earlier a race. The key is to breathe in a 1:2 inhale-to-exhale ratio. Inhale slowly for 5s, and then exhale for 10s, over fourth dimension increasing the duration of your inhale and exhale.

Arousal-Inducing Strategies

There are times when you might feel 'under-activated,' or simply not 'ready' to race — and before you experience prepared once more, y'all're already halfway through the course. Psyching-up strategies to get athletes to optimal arousal states at the very beginning of each race may include: acting energised, through jogging around to increase center charge per unit, which can be an effective way to get those 'butterflies' out; listening to music (this will be discussed in the next consequence) and using positive self-talk phrases such every bit 'Permit's get!' are as well means to warm up the heed and body.

By Karen Lo, Inner Edge Limited

This commodity appeared in the print edition of Asia Trail January/Feb 2016.

Karen is the first Certified Consultant of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology in the greater China area. Follow her facebook page on where she trains people on mental toughness: www.facebook.com/inneredgehk.

References

1. Weinberg, R.Southward., and Gould, D. Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology. Human Kinetics. Champaign, IL (2011).

2. Hanin, Y.L. "Emotions and Athletic Performance: Individual Zones of Optimal Operation." European Yearbook of Sport Psychology i (1997): 29-72.

3. Williams, J.1000. Practical Sport Psychology: Personal Growth to Peak Functioning. McGraw Hill. New York, NY (2010).

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Source: https://asiatrail.run/stress-and-arousal-regulation-tips/

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