Negative emotions while playing sports

certainly improve your results. Read today's article to find out how you can achieve this. Negative emotions while playing sports.

Negative emotions while playing sports
Negative emotions while playing sports

When you manage to control negative emotions while playing sports, you will certainly improve your results. Read today's article to find out how you can achieve this. Negative emotions while playing sports.

Knowing how to control negative emotions while playing sports is a key skill for any athlete. Even when you are in your life form, negative emotions can make your performance worsen.

In turn, an optimistic approach can improve them. It turns out that even when you are not at your best physical condition, a positive outlook can make you perform well.

The relationship between emotions and sports performance is two-way. Just as your emotional state affects your outcomes, your outcomes can evoke positive or negative emotions depending on whether they please you or not.

Negative emotions

When considering the relationship between negative emotions and sport, two very important issues should be emphasized. First, there are many negative emotions. They can include anger, sadness, disappointment, frustration, anxiety, and more. Who among us would be able to count them?

Also, one emotion, such as anger, can have different levels of intensity.

Second, it is important to note that emotion is a state of mind that lasts longer and is less intense. Emotions arise under the influence of external stimuli and can trigger a sudden change in the body to respond to a specific situation.

How to combat negative emotions while playing sports?

Considering the fact that managing negative emotions allows you to achieve optimal results in sports, we have compiled a list of several guidelines to help you manage them.

Learn to recognize your emotional states and name them

First, you need to identify the emotion in question. This means that you need to become aware of what you feel, think and behave and then classify your emotion by giving it a name.

Imagine your heart rate rising before the competition, your palms becoming sweaty and you starting to doubt yourself. This condition can be described as pre-competition stress.

Just naming your emotions can make you calmer. The uncertainty of having no idea what you are feeling can make your emotions overwhelm you.

Concentrate on what is happening here and now

Here and now means focusing your attention on the present and not thinking about the past or the future. Emotions are often triggered by thoughts and not by reality.

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Sadness often comes when you think about what happened in the past or what didn't happen. Stress, in turn, is caused by worrying about what may happen in the future.

A very simple and effective trick is to describe the five objects that you can see at any given moment. Look around and describe the details of everything you see, hear, or feel.

Use emotional control techniques

Psychology assumes that negative emotions can be regulated using relaxation or activating techniques. Relaxation techniques should be used, for example, when the person is agitated or nervous.

Progressive muscle relaxation, also called Jacobson training, as well as diaphragm breathing can help you calm down before a competition.

On the other hand, activating techniques are used when negative emotions lead to a lack of energy or a feeling of fatigue. Positive self-motivation is an extremely effective way to lift your mood and increase your self-confidence.

Keep a journal of emotions

Keeping an emotion diary involves writing down all the emotions you feel and their consequences before and after each competition. This will make it easier for you to identify situations that trigger negative emotions.

Taking intensity notes will help you understand which emotions are most important. If an emotion is very intense, you will feel a greater need to do something about it. In turn, writing down the consequences of the emotion will help you understand how you can deal with the emotion.

Besides, keeping an emotional diary is in itself extremely therapeutic. Expressing negative emotions and the discomfort they cause helps you put them in perspective.

Be aware that some things are beyond your control

Many athletes feel frustrated about things that are beyond their control. Many of them blame their rival's behavior, the weather, and even the crowd for their poor performance. Such a conviction only leads to the emergence of even more negative emotions.

You have to remember that there will always be issues you can't help but do. Instead of stopping at them, you should focus on the things that are within your power and that you can change.

Avoid negative emotions for better results

Emotions are extremely strongly related to sports performance. In a competition, each of these factors influences the latter. While negative emotions are inevitable, there is nothing wrong with feeling them.

It's important that you know how to manage them so that they don't ruin what should be an enjoyable part of your life.