Arousal control Find out about: Why arousal matters Reducing arousal level Raising arousal level Arousal control strategy Why it matters Most models of arousal/performance relationships predict an optimum arousal level, a 'zone', where performance is highest. The one above is typical; with no pressure, nobody performs at all; with too much, we crash. Sports psychologists have spent a lot of effort working out how to get into the Zone more reliably. It's not sorted yet, because people are so different and there are so many different factors to consider. But there is a pretty consistent general approach, and a set of tools that go with it.  More on arousal & performance Reducing arousal Most problems revolve round anxiety control and arousal reduction. Tools for reducing arousal levels and controlling anxiety:    Relaxation  Anxiety control     Raising arousal In archery, with little physical exertion and aggression, you can sometimes need 'pumping up' for performance. Tools for raising arousal levels:    Raising arousal level    Arousal control strategy The steps below represent a typical approach to anxiety and arousal control for competition. Find out where your optimum arousal level is. You may already have a feel for this. If not, keep records of your mood immediately before competitions and your score afterwards. There are some well-established tests for mood state, but a simple scoring scheme will give you a fair idea. Develop relaxation and warm-up skills to adjust arousal level. Check out the  Relaxation,  Anxiety control and  raising arousal pages for a bucketful of useful techniques to check out and apply. Work out a 'mental warm-up' for competition that gets you into the right state of mind. Check out the  mental warm-up page. Adapt your warm-up routine if necessary according to circumstances. Once you have a general warm-up routine, you can modify it to suit your actual mood; for example, by emphasising or adding relaxation or motivation elements of the routine.