An archer's blood glucose stays stable during a competition

The summary today

The studies do not point the same way, and all of them are tiny. In six Korean middle-school archers measured before, during and after a 30-metre test, blood glucose stays between 84 and 92, even after a night without sleep, and in two Brazilian sixteen-year-olds, one elite and one beginner, it sits between 87 and 107 milligrams per decilitre through a simulated competition of 72 arrows at 70 metres, which however began after lunch. When eight Brazilian national team archers shoot a simulated competition of 144 arrows, by contrast, their glucose departs from that of a rest day after the morning block, that is after 72 arrows at 90 and 70 metres, and in the simulated half competition of the same work it falls for the whole of the event. No value reaches hypoglycaemia, and after a course of nutrition education glucose stays higher. The work on the eight national team archers is a thesis with its figures only in charts, and nobody recorded precisely what the archers had eaten and when: for the same number of arrows, the difference may depend more on the meal than on the shooting.

Also phrased as: "blood sugar during competition"; "blood glucose and archery"; "sugar crash during a tournament"; "eating during an archery competition"; "energy across a competition day"

Evidence

• 2017
  For Archers Published later

  6 Korean middle-school boys, three repeated-measures conditions (normal sleep, a night without sleep with placebo, a night without sleep with caffeine), blood glucose before, during and after a 30-metre test: values between 84.31 and 92.30, with no difference between conditions (F=0.213, p=0.809) or time points (F=0.523, p=0.596). The unit is written as mg/ml but the values are those of milligrams per decilitre, and the test is a shooting session, not a competition.

  Effect of Blood Glucose and Growth Hormone on Performance of Middle School Archery Players with Sleep Loss and Caffeine Intake · Jeong Uk Park, Tae Dong Kwon

• 2020
  For Archers Published later

  Two sixteen-year-old archers, an elite member of the national youth team and a beginner, in a simulated competition of 72 arrows at 70 metres (12 ends): blood glucose between 87 and 107 milligrams per decilitre in both, with the test begun after lunch. Descriptive, with no statistical tests.

  Physiological demands of archery: effect of experience level · Thiago Oliveira Borges, Alexandre Moreira, Reury Frank Bacurau, Fernando Henrique Magalhães, Caroline Dario Capitani, Alexandre Nunes Martins, et al.

• 2021
  Against Archers Published later

  8 Brazilian national team archers, 4 men and 4 women, a simulated competition of 144 arrows (90, 70, 50 and 30 metres) compared with a rest day: blood glucose differs from the same time on the rest day after the 70 metres, that is after 72 arrows, at the noon sample; not in the earlier series. The figures appear only in charts, and it is a master's thesis.

  Caracterização das demandas fisiológicas e intervenção nutricional no Tiro com Arco · Levy Aragão de Oliveira

• 2021
  Context Archers Published later

  In the second experiment of the same thesis, a simulated half competition at 90 and 70 metres, blood glucose falls for the whole of the event but never goes below the hypoglycaemia threshold the authors give (2.2 mmol/L); after six nutrition education sessions it stays higher at every time point measured.

  Caracterização das demandas fisiológicas e intervenção nutricional no Tiro com Arco · Levy Aragão de Oliveira

• 2021
  Context Archers Published later

  In the same samples salivary cortisol peaks after the 70 metres, at noon, and then falls while staying above rest-day values: the point where glucose drops is also the point of greatest arousal. Values only in charts.

  Caracterização das demandas fisiológicas e intervenção nutricional no Tiro com Arco · Levy Aragão de Oliveira

Status history

1. 2017 Reported The first data come from six Korean middle-school archers, measured before, during and after a 30-metre test in three conditions: normal sleep, a night without sleep with a placebo, and a night without sleep with caffeine. Blood glucose stays between 84 and 92 and changes neither between conditions nor across the test. It is a shooting session, not a competition, in six boys, in a regional journal: reported.
2. 2020 Reported Two Brazilian sixteen-year-olds, an elite archer from the national youth team and a beginner with nine months of shooting, shoot a simulated competition of 72 arrows at 70 metres: blood glucose stays between 87 and 107 milligrams per decilitre in both, but the test begins after lunch, with plenty of carbohydrate available, and the authors themselves urge caution on that account. It points the same way as the Korean study, but these are two people and there is no statistical comparison: the status holds.
3. 2021 Contested Eight Brazilian national team archers shoot a simulated competition of 144 arrows and compare it with the same time of day on a rest day: blood glucose departs only after the morning block, that is after 72 arrows at 90 and 70 metres, and does not move in the first series; in a simulated half competition from the same work it falls throughout. No value reaches hypoglycaemia, and at the same point of the day salivary cortisol peaks. The studies on archers now point in opposite directions and the status becomes contested. In 2020, however, the same number of arrows had been shot after lunch, and the difference may depend on when the archers had eaten more than on the shooting.

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• Hydration and nutrition on competition day in archery: a practical guideHow much to drink and what to eat on competition day in archery: what the day costs, what dehydration changes and what studies on archers have measured.
• What happens in the body on competition day: saliva, blood, urine, food and fluidsCortisol, salivary IgA, blood glucose, urinary lactate, food and fluids: what changes in an archer's body on competition day, according to the measurements.
• The pre-competition week in archery: what the studies sayThe week before an archery competition: the taper, the load of a competition day, nerves, social media, sleep and food, and what has been measured.

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• 21 studiesFatigue, arrow volume and recovery: the dated trail

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