SportsPsychologist.com Blog by Dr Victor Thompson

Sport and exercise – but not competition for most of us – can be a good way to de-stress. This works for several reasons: It takes us away from stressful situations (home or work) We focus on what we are doing (e.g, chasing a football, hitting the tennis ball, running drills…) and therefore not on life’s problems We have endogenous opiates (‘happy hormones’) released into our bloodstream which feel good We might be exercising or playing sport with positive, encouraging people Those of us who exercise know this already. Perhaps we can share the good news to those who don’t exercise or engage in sport?  Dr Victor Thompson www.sportspsychologist.com

On 20th April I presented at the British Psychological Society's (BPS) Annual Conference on Sport and Exercise. Here are some of comments from my presentation via summarised on the BPS website ( http://www.bps.org.uk/news/roundtable-sport-and-mental-health ): 'Dr Victor Thompson, himself a competitive triathlete, spoke about the pressures on elite athletes. All must attempt to maintain confidence in their own abilities and performance, yet many will eventually have to accept that their careers will not be fulfilled – either because of injury or because they are not quite good enough to reach the very top. He also spoke of the particular pressures on athletes in the Internet age , when every spectator and armchair fan can be a critic too. A contributor from the audience said that in his experience top rugby players cannot keep away from blogs and Twitter even though they know they should.'

Experiencing stress before a race is common: bad sleep the night before, waking early, difficulties getting breakfast down, frequent urges to go to the loo, worries about what might go wrong, a thumping heart while we stand still... These experiences can be unsettling. Why do they happen? They happen because: The race represents a test and we may fear that we'll fail to perform compared to others or our own standards (i.e., finish time or position), or We fear some catastrophe (e.g., getting punched in the face during the swim, losing our goggles or drowning; crashing on the bike...) When we arrive at the race site, our body's arousal is boosted further by the race environment - hearing the pump-you-up music blaring out of a PA system, or seeing lean, mean and excited (and stressed) triathletes. This increases the chance that our arousal level spills over into stress or anxiety - where it can become a problem. What's so bad about pre-race nerves? They make ...