Arousal

The feelings you have when you are “nervous” is your nervous system becoming activated or “aroused”. Most of the time that “Arousal Level” becomes elevated is because of a situation that the brain detects as a potential threat. Upon detection of the threat, the brain’s “Limbic System” activates the “Sympathetic Nervous System” to prepare us for action, and the emotion that we know as “fear” is felt. Heightened arousal (nerves) can come from either our environment or our thoughts, i.e., thinking about something you are afraid of can trigger it.

The rise in Arousal Level is proportional to how dangerous the brain perceives the threat to be and how well you can control it. It can range from light “butterflies” to a full-on panic attack.

As we discussed earlier, for our early human ancestors, threats would have been mostly physical danger, like getting eaten by a large predator. In today’s world, the threats we feel are more likely to be social or from the possibility of failure. Regardless of the type of danger, the brain’s response to it is the same.

Let’s take a look at how a rise in arousal level helps us when we encounter serious danger. Imagine that you are hiking through woods and a Grizzly Bear comes out onto the path. Upon sight of the bear, your instinct would quickly tell you that this is a serious threat to your life (you’ve been conditioned throughout your life to know that this situation means danger). This would happen without you having to think about it – heightened arousal is a subconscious (automatic) response.

In this moment, your heart would immediately start beating faster to pump blood to your muscles, your muscles would tense up, and the stress hormones Adrenaline and Cortisol would start pumping into your system. Cognitive function (thinking and reasoning) becomes limited to reduce your options to either fighting or running away. This type of high arousal caused by a situation we’ve been conditioned to deem a threat is also called the “Fight or Flight” response, which you’ve probably heard of.

The game of golf is by no means life or death, but what we perceive to be a threat isn’t limited to physical danger. If your hands have ever shaken while putting the ball on the tee for your first tee shot, or you’ve felt nervous over a 3-foot putt, then you’ve felt your arousal level rise.

The Positive Side of Arousal

On the face of it, arousal might seem as if it would hold you back from a good performance. A surge of adrenaline, loss of cognitive ability and tension in your muscles is not going to help you make a 5ft putt to win a tournament. Golf isn’t like football or other high-intensity sports where aggression can be an advantage. For golf, and anything else requiring clear thinking and fine motor skills, high arousal levels won’t help.

However, there is a positive side to arousal. At low to moderate levels of it, your senses are heightened, and intensity and focus are raised. In this range of arousal, a player will typically find improvement in their performance. In fact, the research shows that there must be an increase in arousal before getting into “Flow”.

But too much arousal and your performance will suffer. To illustrate this, take a look at the graph which plots arousal level against performance:

Studies show that optimal performance typically happens in the 3-7 out of 10 range, where 1 is very low arousal and 10 is very high. So how do we actively control arousal and keep it in this range?

Controlling Arousal

Performing well when the pressure is on requires being aware of and controlling your level of arousal. We can decrease arousal level by using techniques which activate the “Parasympathetic Nervous System”. Let’s take a look at some of these techniques.

Accept That It’s Part of The Process

“I kept telling myself, even this morning, to enjoy this moment. Enjoy the pressure. Enjoy the stress. Enjoy being uncomfortable. And don’t shy away from it, embrace it… And that’s what I really tried to do, is embrace that pressure all day. And I think that helped me stay a little more calm.” – Gary Woodland, after winning the US Open in 2019

The feeling of nerves, although uncomfortable, is part of the process of winning, so you might as well expect it and accept it, if you plan to succeed at any level of the game.

As we’ve already discussed, the initial feelings and emotions that can cause high arousal aren’t within our control. The best thing we can do is to be aware of them and accept them without judgement, avoidance, or resistance. It’s the same when you feel your arousal level increasing. By embracing it as something that comes with the territory of higher levels of performance, you can manage it better. Those nerves are the feelings of growth.

One myth is that you need to be calm under pressure to play well. Sure, being calm in your mind is better than being reactive, but just because you feel nervous, doesn’t mean that you can’t perform well. In the summer of 2021, the PGA Tour partnered with the biofeedback device “Whoop”, to add a new dimension to the spectators’ entertainment – being able to see professional golfers’ heart rates in real time during the tournament. During Rory’s win at the Wells Fargo Championship in 2021 the “Whoop Live” data showed his heart rate around 140 beats per minute as he played the final hole. Bear in mind the average resting heart rate is 70 bpm. No doubt Rory would have preferred his heart rate to be lower, but even with an arousal level which is technically in the “fight or flight” range, he was able to make his par and secure the win. And he’s someone who is used to playing under the highest pressure. Fact is, you are not going to be completely calm when you are in contention or getting closer to one of your goals and that is perfectly normal.

Breathe

“When I learned how to breathe, I learned how to win” – Tom Watson

In the moments where you feel your arousal level increasing, breathing is one of your best tools for calming the body down and getting control of your thoughts and emotions. The pathway back to safety is the breath.

When we are in the beginning of the fight or flight response, our breathing becomes shallow (in the chest), quick and erratic, meaning there’s less oxygen going to the brain and hence thinking and focus becomes harder. The more we do fast chest breathing, the more we activate the fight or flight response.

Practice good breathing

To fully utilize the power of the breath, we need to learn how to do it properly and practice it, so it becomes our default under pressure. Basic chest breathing, that most people do throughout the day, only uses the upper part of the lungs and the inhale is usually through the mouth. The mouth was not designed by nature to breathe. Research shows that breathing in through the nose increases Oxygen uptake by 10-20%, which improves overall lung volumes[1]] and stimulates the Vagus nerve (which is an integral part of the Parasympathetic nervous system, controlling such functions as heart rate). Diaphragmatic or abdominal breathing also helps deliver nutrients and eliminate waste from the heart[2].

Spend some time practicing deep belly (diaphragmatic), nasal breathing. Sit with your back upright and shoulders back as good breathing is facilitated by good posture. On your inhales, feel your belly go out as your diaphragm contracts and your lungs fill with air.

Breathing Techniques

“The mind is a kite, and the breath is the string.” – Mark Divine, former Navy Seal and host of “The Unbeatable Mind” podcast.

Brian MacKenzie, a Human Performance Specialist, suggests that to find your most effective breathing technique to control arousal, requires experimentation. People can have a different Carbon Dioxide tolerance (its CO2 levels in your body that causes you to breath), anxiety level and physiology, so there’s no “best” breathing technique for all people. Different breathing techniques can also fit different situations to maximize performance depending on what stage of it you are in.

The pattern of your breathing is important. When I ask new students what breathing techniques they use, they will often tell me that they just do a deep breath if they feel nervous. Although this is better than nothing, it’s the repetition and pattern of the breath that helps lower arousal as much as the increase in oxygen.

Explore these different breathing techniques (do 10 sets of each) and pay attention to how it changes your mental and physical state. The ratios refer to the length of inhale-hold-exhale-hold in seconds.

  1. Start with “Box Breathing”, which is 1-1-1-1 ratio e.g., inhale through your nose to the count of 4, hold for a count of 4, exhale through your nose or mouth to the count of 4, and hold for 4, then repeat. Try changing the counts to 2 seconds, 3 seconds, or 5 seconds.
  2. Next try a 1-1-2-1 technique, which for example would be 6 seconds for the inhale, 6 seconds for the hold, 12 second exhale and 6 second hold.
  3. Next try a 1-2-2 technique, which would be a 6 second inhale, 12 second hold and a 12 second exhale (this one is more difficult).

The Wim Hof Technique (10-15 mins)

Wim Hof is a Dutch motivational speaker and extreme athlete, who gained his nickname “The Iceman” because of his ability to withstand extreme cold. He attributes many of his feats to controlled breathing techniques.

The “Wim Hof Method” is based on the premise that the amount of Oxygen we inhale through our breathing affects the amount of energy that is released by the cells in our body. The goal of The Wim Hof Method is to improve your control over your nervous and cardiovascular system, which can lead to:

  • Increased overall energy
  • Improved sleep
  • Improved wellbeing
  • Improved concentration

Here’s how to do it:

  1. Position yourself comfortably, either sitting or lying down
  2. You’re going to do 3 rounds of 30 “circular” breaths without any hold in between the inhale (through your nose) and the exhale (through your mouth). As you will see if you watch the video in the resources section, these are quick breaths, but you still try to get the breath into the belly and chest
  3. After each round of thirty breaths, there is a final exhale and hold (without air in your lungs) for 30, 60 and 90 seconds before an inhale and hold for 15 seconds. I found that the 90 second hold took a bit of building up to after a few sessions.

I try to do the Wim Hof daily and sometimes include it with my meditation practice.

Vision

What might surprise you is our eyes or not only for seeing shapes and colors, but they are also directly connected to the nervous system and hence, are another controller of arousal level. Dr. Andrew Huberman, a professor of neuroscience at the Stanford University School of Medicine, has studied the link between vision and the limbic system. He says, “Vision and our visual system, is perhaps the strongest lever by which we can shift our state of mind and body”.

When we are relaxed, our vision is wider or “panoramic”. When we are stressed or excited, our field of vision is narrowed.

Just like breathing, which we can use to change our inner state, changing our vision is also bi-directional i.e., arousal level change changes vision, but consciously changing our field of vision changes arousal level. This is why looking at a computer or our mobile phone for hours can make us stressed, whereas a walk in nature with beautiful views can be relaxing – it opens up our field of vision.

To decrease arousal level, widen your field of vision and take in as much of your environment as you can. Try to see everything without focusing on anything specific. Most golf courses have beautiful scenery, so to do this in between shots should be easy and will have a calming effect.

Reframing High Arousal

Heightened arousal is also experienced when you feel emotional states other than fear. Excitement and joy can also trigger it. For this reason, arousal level can be controlled simply by interpreting it differently. This technique is based on the fact that physiologically, anxiety and excitement are the same, but mentally they are very different. Excitement is a better mindset as it’s about optimism and positive possibilities, compared to an anxious mind which is focused on what could go wrong. Dr. Alison Woods Brooks, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School, conducted a study to see the effects of this technique. She studied groups of people who were asked to do anxiety inducing activities, such as public speaking, karaoke contests or math tests. Half the group were told to do what they could calm down and the other half were told that what they were feeling was excitement. The results showed that those who “re-framed” the feeling of high arousal as excitement instead of fear, performed significantly better. I’ve got a link to the study in the resources section of this module. https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/xge-a0035325%20(2)_0287835d-9e25-4f92-9661-c5b54dbbcb39.pdf

Slow Down

Another symptom of high arousal is doing things quicker. It’s the fight or flight response at work to try to move you out of the uncomfortable situation. You might rush through your Pre Shot Routine and not think through the shot properly, walk faster in between shots and swing faster. When you’re feeling high arousal, you will need to be aware of your “cadence” – how fast you are moving and walking. Tell yourself to slow down. What you perceive to be a slower pace will probably be about normal. Slow down your walk, your routine, and your swing. When you are feeling high arousal, rehearse a slower swing during your practice swings.

Justin Rose said that before the final round of the 2013 US Open (which he won) he knew his tendency would be to start rushing, so he slowed himself down as soon as he woke up – even brushing his teeth slower and eating his breakfast slower.

[1] The health benefits of nose breathing, Nursing in General Practice, Ruth Allen

[2] The FlowCode, The Complete Roadmap To Flow Personality