Stress management Flashcards
Define stress
An individuals response to a threat
Define stressors
Stressors are what causes stress
What does stress cause?
Somatic responses or cognitive responses
What are examples of somatic responses?
An increase in HR, breathing, blood pressure, sweating, adrenaline production and muscular tension
What are examples of cognitive responses?
Anxiety/negative thoughts/reduced concentration/poor decision making/ attentional narrowing
What are some examples of stressors?
- Injury
- Importance of a match
- Playing against good opponents
- Playing for an important award
- Fear of failure
What are the 2 ways a performer can respond to stress?
Distress or eustress
What is distress?
A negative response, where the performer cannot cope with the stressor, so performance is inhibited
What is eustress?
A positive response where the performer can cope with the stressor, the performer is confident and believes that they can cope with the task at hand so performance is facilitates
What are the 4 somatic stress management technique?
Biofeedback, progressive muscular relaxation, breathing control and centring
What is biofeedback?
Using equipment to monitor and track physiological data so when a stressful situation arise it can be detected
What is a negative of biofeedback?
Could add anxiety due to the performer being aware that they are being monitored
What is progressive muscular relaxation?
A performer concentrates on individual muscle groups by tensing and relaxing them. This will help relax and reduce stress levels
What is breathing control?
By concentrating and controlling breathing the performer can become less distracted and focus on the task
What is centring?
A method of controlling breathing. The performer should breathe in, focus on their core and then breathe out. Whilst breathing out the performer should chant a phrase which should describe how they want to perform
When is centring useful?
During breaks in performance e.g. time-outs at the end of tennis sets
What are the 7 cognitive stress management techniques?
- Negative thought stopping
- Mental rehearsal
- Visualisation
- Imagery
- Positive self-talk
- Attentional control and cue utilisation
- Psychological skills training
What is negative thought stopping?
When negative or irrational thoughts occur, the performer uses a learnt action or trigger to remove them. This can be a learnt physical action that is linked to the negative thought to redirect attention to the task in hand
What is an example of negative thought stopping?
A cricket batter tapping the ground with her bat ahead of bowler releasing the ball
What is mental rehearsal?
Going through the performance in your mind before doing it
What is an example of mental rehearsal?
Going through all the sub-routines of the triple jump/diving routine/floor routine
What is visualisation?
When you perform a skill successfully in training, you lock in the positive mental image of it. This is then re-lived in the competitive situation
What is internal visualisation?
Visualising a successful ‘smash’ shot and how it feels kinesthetically
What is external visualisation?
Visualise yourself completing the skill successfully
