- Physiological
- Psychological
- Behavioural
Physiological Responses
In psychology physiological responses to stress relate to how an individual reacts to stress, a common quote used is the “fight or flight” response, so if an individual feels someone is behind them when walking home in the dark, our body will react by initiating the “fight or flight responses” The responses could either be to run as fast as possible to get home or to turn around and investigate what is going on behind them.
Symptoms of stress can be:
- An increased heart rate
- Faster breathing
- Headaches
- Butterflies in the stomach
- Tightness of chest and pains.
- Dry mouth.
- Continuous colds and illnesses.
- Muscular aches and strains.
- Persistent sweating.
- Skin irritations or infections.
For a sports performer this could relate to them when they are entering a intensifying moment in their game like a penalty kick; they begin to sweat more, their heart rate increases, which could increase their blood pressure making their muscles tense up. The players who opt not to take a penalty this is their physiological response to this stress by choosing to walk away and not take a penalty, the players who choose to take a penalty are physiologically responding to the stress by opting to arise above the stress of taking a penalty, however they could still go through the symptoms of stress which may be the reason why some players miss scoring penalties.
Psychological Responses
This is a response caused by the individual interpreting the stressor after recognising it, for an example when an individual is about to sit an important exam they’ll begin to get butterflies and nervous they then interpret exams as something they don’t like or something which the individual is not good at and doesn’t provide a positive feeling.
However if the same questions in the exam were given to the individual in a non exam environment, that individual would probably feel less tense and able to produce better results.
Symptoms for psychological responses to stress are:
Reduced concentration
Less interested
Unable to make decisions
Sleep disturbances.
Making mistakes
Unable to relax
Quick losses of temper
Loss of sense of humour
Loss of self-esteem
Loss of enthusiasm
From a sports performers view, psychological responses to stress can have the most affecting symptoms upon their game this is because if they relate a bad thought with their game they will find it difficult to carry out that activity positively.
For an example if a long distant runner had to compete at a competition where there were no supporters their wanting that individual to win, this individual will gain a negative vibe because usually they are used to having large amounts of supporters their chanting their name, however this time other competitors names are being chanted, psychologically the individual’s concentration is automatically reduced because they begin to think about the supporters instead of their competition, this also may make them feel a lack of enthusiasm because they do not feel motivated enough to run because they have no one to cheer with them if they win.
Behavioural Responses.
Behavioural responses to stress occur in an individual when they carry out actions to either make them feel like it is helping them cope with stress or makes them feel more relaxed and comfortable.
Symptoms are:
Talking, eating and walking quickly
Interrupting conversations
Increased smoking, drinking and eating.
Fidgeting
Lethargy
Moodiness
Grudge bearing
Accidents and clumsiness
Poor personal presentation
Nervous habits
For a sports performer they can carry out behavioural stress symptoms even within a game, for an example if a referee gives a unjustifiable penalty against a defender, this defender could become moody and angry towards the referee, and they even may bear a grudge against this referee for further matches, which will make the player even more stressed because before every game if the player knows that same referee if refereeing their game they are going to link it back to that incident.
Sports performers can even take up bad eating patterns whereby they are so stressed they cannot find the right time to eat, therefore they begin to loose muscle mass and weight and start to become lethargic and are unable to perform to their best ability.
Causes of Stress
There are endless causes of stress for individuals and also very varied, this is because each stress is specific to that individual, and different types of people will react differently to stressful situations, for an example two sprinters in the Olympics walking up to their blocks, both will react differently, some tend to walk around their area shaking their legs bouncing on the spot, some carry out short specific movements to their activity, some may feel butterflies, some may feel very in their “zone”, some may feel less concentrated these are all ways of dealing with stress.
Sources of stress can be divided into four categories these are known as:
Internal: These causes of stress are related to the past, memories or experiences, current injuries, past injuries and our own internal feeling of our own self-worth.
For a sports performer this type of stress can be triggered by previous injuries because that player remembered how stressful it was to come back from an injury, when they go back to the same location of where their injury occurred this may make them react differently and become stressed.
External: These causes of stress occur in the environment of the individual, this can be competitions, the noise or chants of the crow, an individuals opponents, the weather, transport problems.
For a sports performer these can all be aspects of their game which can cause sever stress symptoms this is because they are causes of stress which are out of our control we cannot prevent them, it’s us or the individual just thinking them they are a problem which is generating a stressful process, for an example an opponent which you know is better than you can be a stressful process for a sports performer because feelings of self-worth can decrease you begin to feel you are not good enough and you feel why bother if you know they are better than you.
Personal Factors: These causes of stress are related to the people we frequently share our lives with such as family, friends, partners, personal factors also include factors such as money, health and living accommodation.
For a sports performer these personal factors could either be a death or a confrontation, these can have a severe affect upon sport performers especially if they depend on support from these close friends or family and if a stress occurs around them this will have a sudden impact upon their game and can sometimes result in the performer quitting due to the demand and stress it has on their surrounding close companions.
Occupational Factors: This is either the job, or studying we carry out, or for some people both these will include the people you work with or the team mates you are in a team with, and your relationship with coaches and managers.
For sports performers this can be the most stressful cause of stress this is because it is deemed to be the most important thing to have a good relationship with your surrounding team mates and coaches as you depend on these to perform well, and it can be stressful for a sports performer when they change clubs or if they generally cannot click with their team mates and this could cause their confidence to decrease making their performance lacking in enthusiasm making it appear from the coaches point of view that they do not want to play. This can be very stressful for the performer because they just want to concentrate on their game however they can’t do this if they are unable to bond with their team mates and work well with them.
The sympathetic and Parasympathetic Nervous systems
The sympathetic Nervous System
This system provides the individual with the motive to confront the stress or to run from the stress, it releases stress hormones known as adrenaline and cortisol into the bloodstream. Once these hormones reach around the bodies muscles they produce the following symptoms:
Increase adrenaline rush
Increased heart rate
Increased breathing rate
Increased metabolism
