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Sports as stress reliever
Studies showing the effect of stress on sports performance
Studies showing the effect of stress on sports performance
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Stress definition
“A state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances.” https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/stress
Stress can cause a wave of hormones into your body. If your body identifies stress, a mini location in the base of the brain called the hypothalamus operates by making the body to grow hormones that can include adrenaline and cortisol. Stress can have different effects on participants when playing sport. For example, if your stressed you can’t do the basic tasks well and effectively. Stress can form, if you don’t want to fail in a particular sport which could ultimately lead to you being dropped. However, if you have achieved much stress, or distress, this can cause you anxiety which will most definitely affect your
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In our life we experience anxiety at some point. However, if we use anxiety appropriately, we can use it to so performers will perform at their best level. Top sportsmen and entertainers, will grab on anxiety as a way of help, to help them achieve the best possible outcome they can achieve.
However, anxiety only becomes a problem if you are not able to manage it, control it, or when it gets in the way of your daily routine. According to Kremer and Moran (2008) “one reason why we tend to get uptight before competition could be related the pressure of being observed. Spectators of any sport are constantly evaluating the skills of the athletes they are watching, and this can be extremely daunting to those who are not trained to deal effectively with this pressure.” Not wanting to fail in a match or competition can also heap more pressure on an individual when realise they are being watched and the anxiety and stress increases to
I see them as building stones for example, my freshmen year I played my first ever varsity game. If only you could imagine how nervous I was, but today you would see a complete different person. I play a lot faster, I don’t make very many mistakes any longer. All because of anxiety I second thought myself and made mistakes. It also impaired my vision, like I would be playing against a person my size, but in my mind I felt like I was playing against a NFL player. Anxiety is a mean thing and it will stop many, but the ones that overcome it will always succeed.
Stress is a normal physical response to events that make you feel threatened or upset your balance in some way. When you sense danger—whether it’s real or imagined—the body's defenses kick into high gear in a rapid, automatic process known as the “fight-or-flight-or-freeze” reaction, or the stress response.
Anxiety is one of the most fundamental emotions shared by all species of animals. When confronted with danger, the fight or flight response of the sympathetic nervous system is triggered so that we are prepared to react and protect ourselves. Without anxiety and its physiological manifestations, such as hypersensitivity to environment and enhanced blood supply to leg muscles, the likelihood of harm or disaster in threatening situations would undoubtedly dramatically increase. A moderate amount of anxiety also has the result of prompting individuals to prepare for certain events, such as exams and presentations, that clearly benefit from this action.
Stress means different things to different people and stress effects people in different ways. Some people think stress is something that happens to them such as an injury or a promotion and others think that stress is what happens to our mind, body and behaviors in response to an event. While stress does involve events and how one responds to them these are not the critical factors, but our thoughts about the situation in which we are involved are the critical factors. Essentially, stress exists whenever homeostasis is disturbed or cannot be maintained (Stress and the Social System Course Guide, 2013). Homeostasis refers to the body's ability to keep the internal chemical and physical environments constant. As your body begins to react to stress several changes occur. These changes include increased heart rate, blood pressure and secretion of stimulatory hormones. Ones body prepares itself in stressful situations to either stand ground and fight or to flee from the situation. Walter Cannon called this stressful reaction the fight-or-flight response (Greenberg, 2012).
According to the American Institute of Stress, stress can be defined as an individual’s response, physical, mental or emotional, to an event that causes a demand for change (Selye, 1936). For athletes, that demand for change can be caused by an injury, which ultimately can have a significant impact on overall stress levels. While a physical injury can cause psychological stress, mental trauma can similarly affect an athlete physically. An athlete’s psychological stability has a great affect on an athlete’s susceptibility to pain and can alter the response to and recovery from an injury (Ahern, 1997).
In Edward’s and Hardy’s opinion the main problem that research on the relationship between anxiety and performance has encountered is that researchers have not defined all the specific terminology that is required to understand with this subject. The following operational definitions will be used for the terms anxiety and stress. “Stress is a state that results from the demands that are placed on the individual which require that person to engage in some coping behavior.” Arousal is going to be considered to be a signal to the athlete that he/ she has entered into a stressful situation and is characterized buy physiological signs. Anxiety results from the athlete’s perception that he/ she is not good enough for the particular situation, which will cause stress (Edward and Hardy).
Playing a sport whether its basketball, soccer, football or any other of your interest can be thrilling, and accelerating. Not only can it be fun yet physical exercise is good for the mind, body, and spirit. Therefore, as an athlete one must keep in mind that playing any sport, injury is part of life and inevitable. Research has proven from time to time that severe injuries in sports can trigger psychological mental health issues, affecting them in their athletic performance.
What is stress? Stress is state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances. Stress can from depression, work, and much more. One doctor says, “Stress is a silent disease.”
Stress is defined as “any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten one’s well-being and thereby tax one’s coping abilities” (Weiten & Lloyd, 2006, p. 72). Stress is a natural event that exists literally in all areas of one’s life. It can be embedded in the environment, culture, or perception of an event or idea. Stress is a constant burden, and can be detrimental to one’s physical and mental health. However stress can also provide beneficial effects; it can satisfy one’s need for stimulation and challenge, promote personal growth, and can provide an individual with the tools to cope with, and be less affected by tomorrow’s stress (Weiten & Lloyd, 2006, p. 93).
Stress is the combination of psychological, physiological, and behavioral reactions that people have in response to events that threaten or challenge them. Stress can be good or bad. Sometimes, stress is helpful, providing people with the extra energy or alertness they need. Stress could give a runner the edge he or she needs to persevere in a marathon, for example. This good kind of stress is called eustress. Unfortunately, stress is often not helpful and can even be harmful when not managed effectively. Stress could make a salesperson buckle under the pressure while trying to make a sales pitch at an important business meeting, for example. Moreover, stress can increase the risk of developing health problems, such as cardiovascular disease and anxiety disorders. This bad kind of stress is called distress, the kind of stress that people usually are referring to when they use the word stress.
Sports and performance anxiety often go hand-in-hand. When a competitor ‘freezes’ in the big moment or commits an inexplicable error, anxiety, in one of its many guises, is very often the root cause. Anxiety is a natural reaction to threats in the environment and part of the preparation
First, stress is defined as an unpleasant state of emotional and physiological arousal that people experience in situations that they perceive as dangerous or threatening to their well being (Patel, 14). Stress is a universal feeling to everyone but the word stress means different things to different people. Some people define stress as events or situations that cause them to feel tension, pressure or negative emotions such as anxiety or anger (Patel, 15). Other people may view stress as a process involving a person’s interpretation and response to a threatening event. In any case, stress has many facets of how one perceives and responds to the certain predicament that is ailing them.
According to the American Psychological Association, “Stress is often described as being overwhelmed, worried or run-down.”
Stress is a reaction to external and internal pressure. It is a normal function that helps people in their daily lives ( ). Without some level of stress, individuals wouldn't have the motivation to meet deadlines or complete projects ( ). However normal stress can become a burden over a long period of time and this leads to chronic stress. Chronic stress is what people are referring to when they say that they are "stressed out" ( ). Stress can become even more overwhelming if chronic stress goes into overload, this is what is known as distress ( ...
Stress is in our everyday lives. We allow things such as the way we live, school, work, family, relationships etc to stress us out. Some people deal with stress way different from others. Some may know how to cope with stress better than others. We allow stress to take a major toll over our lives when we are suppose to fight it, but a lot of people can’t do that. Stress makes you act and do things that are not like yourself. Stress is a negative word; it comes in all different shapes and forms.