stress management

We are back for the next tenet of the mindset pillar of climbing: stress management.

Managing mental stress is important for managing overall energy levels as having a leak in mental energy can greatly affect physical performance.

Stress can be grouped in a triad with two other mental energy concepts of anxiety and arousal. All three of these concepts have to do with how we let our emotions affect our mental energy.

Depending on which emotions we are feeling, they can either increase or deplete our mental energy. For example, feeling excited and motivated can fuel our physical performance while feeling frustrated, angry, or worried can detract from it.

The combination of mental energy and its effect on the body's physiology is called arousal. For example, an athlete that is "psyched up" will have a higher heart rate and blood pressure versus an athlete who is falling "flat" may be overly relaxed with a slower heart rate and lower blood pressure.

Anxiety is a type of arousal where negative emotions such as worry and fear trigger physiological activation (high heart rate, tense muscles, nausea). If uncontrolled, anxiety can negatively impact performance.

Lastly, stress is a response to an environmental or mental stressor. The stress response can be either good (for example, a "flat" athlete needing some activation) or bad (generating anxiety), and in both ways it creates arousal.

Clearly having control over your emotions, arousal level, and response to stress is advantageous to performance. This week I want to challenge you to take a step back and try to recognize:

1. What is your arousal level based on your physiological state - can you feel your heart pounding and your muscles tensing, or do you feel relaxed, maybe too relaxed, and have trouble activating?

2. What are the emotions that are leading to that physiological state? Are you excited? Anxious? Bored?

3. Can you identify the source of those emotions? Here are a few sources of anxiety that you can consider:

-a perceived threat to your self-esteem (ego involvement)
-a perceived disparity between your ability and what's necessary for success
-a fear of what might happen if you fail