Dealing with athlete stress and anxiety
Stress, as we all know, is part of every athlete’s life. Whether you are attempting to execute a play to win in the Super Bowl, or set a new personal best in the local 5K race, everyone faces a degree of stress. No matter what level of competition you are at, the key is being able to deal with the pressure and ensure that it doesn’t adversely affect your performance. Therefore, it is vital to monitor your stress levels and to become aware of the tell-tale signs in order to take action before it becomes a problem. When we see some of the best athletes in the world excel under the most testing of circumstances, it may be tempting to think that they don’t suffer from such anxieties but there is considerable evidence of the effect stress can have on an athlete.
Additional stress from current pandemic
The current Covid-19 pandemic has added considerably to stress and anxiety levels of athletes around the world. When surveyed in December 2019 and January 2020 by the world players union FIFPro, 11% of female footballers and 6% of male footballers surveyed symptoms consistent with depression. A more recent survey completed during the Covid-19 pandemic between March and April 2020 surveyed a larger group (1,134 male players and 468 female players) and found that the percentage of footballers reporting depression symptoms had doubled: 22% of female players and 13% of male players. The average contract length for a footballer is less than 2 years and many are living in foreign countries with limited family support. Job uncertainty as well as health worries understandably have added to this. FIFPro warns that although women’s football has shown recent growth, it is particularly at risk as their leagues are less established and lower investment and salaries means its fragile state is exposed by the covid pandemic.
The NCAA opened an survey from April 10th to May 1st in collaboration with the NCAA Sport Science Institute and the national Division I, II and III Student-Athlete Advisory Committees, to examine the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on student athletes. They had responses from over 37,000 students. 82% reported feeling positive about the support they were receiving from coaches but most reported experiencing high rates of mental distress. Over a third reported experiencing difficulties with sleep, and over a quarter reported feeling sadness and a sense of loss. 1 in 12 reported feeling so depressed it was difficult to function.
How stress can affect performance
People in every walk of life experience stress, and it is certainly no different for an athlete. In fact, the problem of stress can be an even greater one for athletes, particularly those operating at elite level. The pressure to win, coping with injuries, pre-competition nerves, coping with loss of form on top of other issues that impact their lives such as financial worries, or for student athletes, the problem of combining academic work with sport are some examples of the type of stress athletes will experience. While it is accepted that a certain amount of stress is good in terms of providing the spark that motivates the athlete to improve or to achieve their goals, negative stress, or distress, can severely hamper an athletes hopes of achieving their potential.
As Roger Covin, Ph.D explains in How Stress Can Affect Athletic Performance: Listen Up, Tiger
In many ways, the brain is like a computer. If memory capacity is low or impaired, performance will be slower, less efficient and there will be less information that can be processed at a given time. There is also a greater risk of errors in decision making if the brain cannot process all the necessary information
Dealing with Stress
In Managing Stress and Anxiety Is As Easy As ABC, Dr. Steve Graef, a former sport and performance psychologist at The Ohio State University outlines a useful approach that advocates acknowledging and appreciating that times are tough and that stress is a part of life.
A: Accept
When you’re in a stressful or tough situation, accepting the situation can sometimes be half the battle. Often it is not so much the demand that causes the stress but our perception of that demand. It is often better to ‘ride the wave rather than swim against it’. Acceptance, acknowledgement and appreciation of the situation that is causing us stress is a good first step in coping and dealing with that stress.
B: Breathe
Taking a deep breath and focusing your mind to slow down can help your body. When you breathe deeply, your body sends a message to your brain to calm down and relax. When you are stressed your body can react with an increased heart rate, fast breathing and high blood pressure. Deep breathing doesn’t take away your stress, but it can decrease these affects and bring a calmness that can help you look at your situation in a more positive manner. Meditation and mindfulness programs are being increasingly implemented in many sporting environments.
C: Choose your Focus
You have the power to choose what to think, feel or do next. Focus on controlling the controllables. Every sport has specific demands that need to be met in order to compete successfully. You need to be competent across the 4 corners of talent development – Physical, Technical, Tactical and Psychological. Wasting time worrying over things you have no control over can deplete your positivity and energy, leaving you unable to put effort and positivity into what you can control. Preparing yourself through optimal physical preparation, nutrition, sleep and positivity can increase your confidence and reduce stress levels. You always have total control over the attitude that you take when faced with a situation. Self-talk, goal setting and imagery are all useful tools to help you achieve this.
Monitoring stress levels
It is clear that there is a need for monitoring, as knowing when an athlete is being affected by stress is hugely important for a coach. Discovering if an athlete stress levels are becoming a burden can allow the coaching team to identify the source and take actions to solve the problem. This ensures the athlete is in the best possible condition to train and perform, and allows them the best opportunity to succeed.
Young people in general often do not seek professional help for mental health problems and elite athletes may be less likely to seek help than non-athletes. The British Journal of Sports Medicine recently published their review of 52 studies in this area and found that stigma is the main reason why elite athletes with mental issues don’t seek the help they need, but a poor understanding of mental illness, busy schedules, and gender stereotyping also play their part. The research points out that:-
Athletes fear, possibly rightly so, that disclosing mental health symptoms or disorders would reduce their chances of maintaining or signing a professional team contract or an advertising campaign
Educating coaches, athletic trainers and students is crucial to help tackle this problem. They all have a critical role to play in helping to de-stigmatize mental health issues and promote a culture of well-being. In Focusing on Student-Athletes’ Mental Health, Jason Scott points out that destigmatizing the conversation around mental health is an important part of the equation.
If you roll your ankle, you don’t hide that injury from your team, right? We need to attack the stigma that [depression] is something you have to hide
Given the increased anxiety levels for athletes during the current pandemic, this is more important than ever.
Monitoring using Metrifit
Metrifit provides a simple and effective method for athletes to record their stress as part of its athlete monitoring package. Stress levels are part of the daily well being questionnaire included in Metrifit and when an athlete indicates stress levels are up they are asked to provide additional information to help coaches and staff determine how they should respond to that information. Metrifit’s daily traffic light report will indicate what issues athletes are having and who warrants a follow up. The analytics provided by Metrifit will also look for deviation from normal patterns at the individual level across many variables including stress. During lockdown periods, Metrifit was very helpful to our clients to help monitor training and health and well-being while athletes were separated from their coaches. We have also recently added Covid Monitoring to our product to help coaches and athletes adapt to the new normal as they return to training and competition.
To find out more about the Metrifit Ready to Perform product and gain insight on the physical and mental state of your athletes through our daily wellbeing questionnaire contact us at .
Follow @metrifit
Dan Horan
Head of Fitness for International Football/Fitness Coach Men's Senior Team
Football Association of Ireland
Paul Cremin
Head Physiotherapist, Cornish Pirates Rugby Club
Richard Deuchrass
Lincoln University Athletic Performance Manager
Michael Torres
CEO, Shift Performance, Miami
Brijesh Patel
Quinnipiac University, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach
Brian Clarke
Head Strength and Conditioning Co-ordinator,Noblesville High School
Graham Williams
Athletic Development Coach, MSc ASCC
Millfield School, UK
J.B. Belzer
Head Coach, Women's Soccer at Regis University
Robert Karlsson, Professional Golfer
Cian O’Neill
Kildare Senior Football Manager
Kevin Schultz
Associate Director of Strength & Conditioning
Director of Olympic Strength & Conditioning
University of Wisconsin
Jason McGahan
Sports Scientist, Kildare Football, PhD Sports Science Researcher
Edgar K. Tham
Founder and Chief Sport & Performance Psychologist, SportPsych Consulting (Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines)
Tino Fusco, B.Sc. ChPC
Head Coach, Women's Soccer, Mount Royal University (Canada)
Erik Helland
Director of Strength & Conditioning and Head Strength Coach Men’s basketball, University of Wisconsin
Tommy Mooney
Strength and Conditioning Coach at DCU Sport and with Dublin Minor GAA
Dr. Dale Richardson
CEO Achieve Total Performance Pty Ltd
Niall O’Driscoll
Academy Directory, SJ.B (St. Joseph’s Bray ) Academy
Yvonne Treacy
Nutritionist, Wexford Camogie
Kari Thompson
Head Volley Ball Coach, Southern Illinois University
Dave Passmore
Head Coach, Irish Hockey
Eamonn Fitzmaurice
Kerry Senior Football, Manager
Joe O’Connor
NISUS Fitness, S&C Coach Clare Senior Hurling, Horse Sport Ireland and Limerick Senior Hurling
References
Setting the bar: athletes and vulnerability to mental illness
Managing Stress and Anxiety Is As Easy As ABC
Focusing on Student-Athletes’ Mental Health
Number of footballers with depression symptoms doubles during shutdown
NCAA Covid-19 Well-Being Study
The effects of stress on athletic performance
How Stress Can Affect Athletic Performance: Listen Up, Tiger
Stigma deterring elite athletes with mental health issues from seeking help
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