Ramadan, mood and young archers: Lau 2023 study

Thirteen Malaysian male archers aged 16 on average, from the Terengganu State Sports Council and the Pahang sports school squads, were measured twice: a month before Ramadan and during the fasting month. Each time they filled in the BRUMS mood questionnaire and then shot 36 arrows at 70 metres.

The score did not change significantly: a mean of 281.3 before and 285.9 during the fast (medians 288.5 and 290.0, p 0.388). Of the six mood scales only tension changed significantly, falling from a mean of 4.7 to 2.5 (median from 4.0 to 1.0, p 0.044). Fatigue rose from 4.6 to 6.1 and vigour fell from 10.7 to 10.0, neither significantly; anger, confusion and depression stayed similar. At both times the profile was what sport psychology calls an "iceberg" profile, with vigour above the negative scales. The authors conclude that fasting worsened neither shooting nor mood.

Sixteen archers started and thirteen finished; the number had been calculated in advance for a large effect. They were state-level athletes with experience of national competition who observed the fast, recruited through their coaches. Both measurements were taken during evening training. The BRUMS has 24 adjectives, each scored 0 to 4, grouped into six four-item scales: tension, depression, anger, vigour, fatigue and confusion. The shooting test was 36 arrows at 70 metres in World Archery format, with a maximum of 360 points.

To compare the two occasions the authors used the Mann-Whitney test, because the data were not normally distributed. The paper does not say what bow the athletes shot, in which week of Ramadan the second measurement was taken, or whether the evening shooting came before or after the fast was broken.

The sample is small and there is no non-fasting group, so any difference between the two occasions may come from something else: that month's training, the point in the season, familiarity with the test. The authors acknowledge that they recorded neither diet nor training load. The Mann-Whitney test is designed for two independent groups, whereas here the same people were measured twice; a paired test such as Wilcoxon's would have been more suitable and could have given somewhat different results. The comparison table gives 12 archers per occasion instead of 13, without explanation.

The drop in tension is the only significant result out of seven comparisons, with p at 0.044 and no correction for multiple comparisons: it may be chance. The explanation offered, that fasting experienced as a religious act makes people calmer, is the authors' hypothesis. Finally, 36 arrows each and thirteen people are too few to detect a small difference: with scores spread across archers by a standard deviation of about 30 points, a study of this size cannot rule out an effect of a few points in either direction.

For a young archer who observes Ramadan, the study is reassuring within its limits: in thirteen boys the score on 36 arrows at 70 metres during the fasting month was similar to the month before, and mood had not worsened, apart from slightly higher fatigue that was not significant. It does not show that fasting makes no difference to shooting, because the sample is too small to detect a modest effect, and it says nothing about adults, women or competitions lasting several days.

That fasting reduced tension is an isolated finding and should not be taken as a benefit. The authors suggest that coaches adapt loads and timetables during Ramadan; that is common sense, not something the study measured.