The Impact of Somatic Anxiety, Cognitive Anxiety, and Physiological Arousal Responses in Athletes
Athletes are constantly under pressure to perform at their best due to the numerous tournaments and games in their industry. With more players entering the sports industry each year, competition has increased significantly hence increasing the need to stand out. Besides, there are more tournaments and competitions around the world, thus shortening the intervals for athletes to recover and prepare for games. These conditions, alongside constant pressure to perform during competitions and games, increase anxiety and stress. However, physiological arousal improves athlete performance to a point and can be significantly beneficial to the athletes. Moreover, the athlete’s performance in comparison to other players affects self-image and output. Kinesiology seeks to understand the mechanics of the body’s motion. In the study, arousal response, somatic and cognitive anxiety, as well as self-confidence, affect the body’s mechanics and the sportsperson’s performance.
Every competition makes a demand on the athlete’s performance. As important competitions have a lasting impact on athletes’ careers, athletes experience heightened levels of anxiety during such occasions. Consequently, this influences the athlete’s rank and self-confidence. Ford et al. (2017) hold that each game places a different level of demand on the athlete. Moreover, players of different sports experience different levels of stress depending on the nature and pressure of the discipline (Noteboom et al., 2001). Furthermore, elite athletes whose self-image and confidence are significantly high experience low levels of anxiety compared to amateurs. Woodman and Hardy (2003), for instance, found a connection between increased anxiety with sports injuries. As athletes feel greater pressure mounting to meet expectations, they become more prone to errors, which lead to injuries. These injuries were due to both heightened cognitive and somatic anxiety that affected their judgment and performance. Moreover, cases of anxiety among athletes if not addressed, may keep the athlete on a losing streak hence lowering their confidence. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
Athletes manifest anxiety in different ways depending on the situation. These include somatic anxiety, cognitive anxiety and multidimensional anxiety. Baylan et al. (2016) note that somatic anxiety entails changes in the body of the athlete in relation to pressure. These include heart rate changes, breathing patterns, brain activity readings, perspiration, secretion, and excretion of body fluids. An increase in such anxiety may influence an athlete’s performance. For instance, if an athlete needs to urinate often due to stress, it may affect their output. Similarly, if their body is preoccupied with unnatural and heightened patterns, they may be more prone to errors. Somatic anxiety is the most common form of stress among athletes and directly affects their performance. These findings are not surprising as the performance of athletes depends on the state of their bodies. As such, if the athlete is unable to normalize the functions of the body, he or she is likely to suffer in terms of output.
Cognitive anxiety, on the other hand, focuses on the psychological state of the athlete. Fear, worry, butterflies in the stomach, low confidence, or self-esteem are examples of cognitive anxiety. Cognitive anxiety focuses on the intensity or impact of the stress in the mind of the player. Woodman and Hardy (2003) found that cognitive anxiety greatly influenced athletic performance. In their research, they deduced that athletes with high levels of cognitive stress had lower production due to the inability to concentrate. Similarly, Swain and Jones (1992) believed that cognitive anxiety greatly influenced the performance of athletes. The duo defined cognitive stress as the athlete’s negative expectations towards the outcome. Their study showed that the players with such expectations triggered significantly faster somatic anxiety before and during competitions. Seeing that somatic anxiety directly affected performance, cognitive stress, which provoked the somatic anxiety was a factor affecting the anxious athletes. In addition, their research found that players with high scores reported a significant level of confidence before competitions during questionnaires.
The other form of anxiety that kinesiology explores with respect to athlete performance is multidimensional anxiety. The term is a theory asserting a combination of both cognitive and somatic anxiety. Miller and Chesky (2004), found that both somatic and cognitive anxiety influenced athlete performance both during practice and in the field. Moreover, their study asserts that in addition to these factors, self-confidence was an essential factor influencing the performance of athletes, especially during competitions. It is worth noting though that self-confidence does not fall within the parameters of measuring anxiety. In contrast, Baylan et al. (2016) did not find any relation between cognitive stress and athlete performance and disputed the multidimensional theory as a whole. In their research, they believed that the physiological factors were the only critical determinants of athlete performance.
An athlete’s perception of the competition determines his or her level of anxiety. More critical matches and competitions significantly affect athlete performance. According to Craft et al. (2003), each athlete perceives pressure from a different perspective. For instance, some athletes view pressure as an integral part of the industry and thus experience it as a regular thing. However, others may see the experience from a more subjective perspective, viewing their experience as unique. Taylor (1987) found that a controlled amount of anxiety is crucial for the excellent performance of an athlete. However, Taylor (1987) warns that exceeding the controlled levels of stress or lowering it results in under-performance on the part of the athlete. As such, the athlete needs to have an accurate perception of the competition while maintaining their levels of anxiety to ensure their performance.
The kinesiology of anxiety and performance among athletes is a study that has continued for decades. Researchers endeavor to understand the impact of the stress in both practice time as well as in the field during important games and matches. Ford et al. (2017) believe that the use of psychological strategies is critical to helping athletes improve their performance both during practice and during tournaments. Woodman and Hardy (2003) found that there is a clear connection between the mental state of the athlete and their physiological output. They discovered that the critical areas that anxiety affected performance differed based on situations, the physiological state of the athlete, and the perception of the athlete. Besides, Studies over the last two decades show that by helping to cope with multidimensional anxiety, kinesiologists and coaches can assist athletes in preventing injuries and error of judgment in their performance.
Anxiety in athletes also depended on their placement, that is, athletes in teams versus those that play alone. Pluhar et al. (2019) found that athletes participating in team sports portrayed lower levels of anxiety in comparison to individual players. The difference between the two categories of athletes is quite significant. The reason for this is that athletes in teams played towards a collective goal rather than individuals’ goals. In turn, the focus of team athletes is the success of the team rather than the expectation of the audience. Consequently, this reduces the level of anxiety significantly. However, these athletes all manifested cognitive and somatic anxiety at different stages and, in some cases, experienced both at the same time. Besides, the confidence of athletes in teams was generally higher than that of individual players.
The physiological arousal response of athletes varied depending on their lifestyle. A study on university student-athletes by Demirel (2016), found that student-athletes had greater levels of anxiety in general in comparison to non-athlete students. Similarly, student-athletes that participated in sports for leisure had lower levels of stress compared to those that intended ongoing professional. Demirel (2016) held that the lifestyle difference in athletes compared to non-athletes increased physiological arousal and thus growing anxiety. Moreover, the uncertainty of the future for students intending to become professional athletes increased the level of stress compared to their fellow students. Pluhar et al. (2019) also found that the physiological arousal response of the various athletes also relied on their placement. Athletes in teams had their teammates for support and shared the burden of worry while individual athletes depended solely on themselves.
Multidimensional anxiety has the most significant effect on athletes. The fact is that athlete performance relies on many factors that have the potential to result in stress. According to Taylor (1987), confidence is the most critical factor under multidimensional anxiety. In his research, self-confidence determines a player’s behavior within the practice as well as on the field. He found that athletes with high confidence levels were more likely to engage in extraordinary tasks that stretched their abilities and strengths to the limit. For example, they would take up challenges, practice more, and have more positive expectations of outcome than their counterparts. In addition to this, these individuals were more likely to increase their training after losing a match rather than giving up. In turn, this increases perseverance as well as the overall ability of the athlete. Confident athletes even overshadowed more potent athletes due in most cases, even when their opponents had better skills, experience, and even strength.
In conclusion, cognitive, somatic, and multidimensional anxiety affect athletes’ performance. Even though self-confidence does not fall under the measures of stress, athletes that reported high levels of poise performed better than those with low self-esteem. The perception of the game also plays a critical role in sports performance among athletes. Sportspersons perceive different games differently and thus perform in accordance with the circumstance. Athletes with more experience and greater success have high levels of confidence and perform significantly better under pressure compared to their amateur counterparts. Similarly, participants in teams are better placed with regards to dealing with anxiety as their orientation is towards the collective unit rather than their personal reputation. Other factors such as team placement, lifestyle, and expectation also affected performance as a result of multidimensional anxiety. According to research, increased stress and the activation of arousal responses enhance sports performance among athletes. However, when the arousal either exceeds a certain threshold or is too little arousal, athletes perform poorly. Overall, anxiety and self-confidence are fundamental determining factors that impact the success of an athlete.
References
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