One study found that twelve weeks of progressive relaxation do not change resting systolic blood pressure in women archers
1 study · 13 archers measured
The summary today
There is a single study, of thirteen Korean university women archers of a good standard, with eleven years of practice on average, who do progressive muscle relaxation for twelve weeks, three sessions a week of fifteen to twenty minutes, with no comparison group. Resting systolic pressure goes from 116.7 to 113.0 millimetres of mercury, a difference that is not significant (p = 0.82), and heart rate from 73.8 to 69.7 beats a minute, again not significant. Diastolic pressure, on the other hand, falls slightly, from 69.8 to 67.5 millimetres (p = 0.03), so the result has to be stated precisely: systolic does not move, diastolic drops by two millimetres. With thirteen people a small effect on systolic pressure would not have shown up anyway, and without a control group even the fall in diastolic pressure may come from the season, the training load or getting used to the measurement. There is a more basic limit too: resting blood pressure is not why an archer does relaxation, and the study measures neither anxiety nor score.
Also phrased as: "the Jacobson relaxation method"; "progressive muscle relaxation"; "blood pressure and relaxation"; "lowering resting arousal"; "relaxation techniques for archers"
In practice
Progressive muscle relaxation is offered to archers as work for the evening or the days before a competition, on the idea that it lowers baseline arousal and the body reaches the shooting line calmer.
Evidence
-
2014
For Archers Published later
13 Korean university women archers, twelve weeks of Jacobson relaxation three times a week for 15 to 20 minutes, no control group: resting systolic pressure goes from 116.66 ± 7.65 to 113.00 ± 6.6 mmHg, p = 0.82.
The Effect of EEG And Physiological Changes To Participation in Progressive Relaxation Technique Of The University Archery players · Sang-Nam Nam, Soo-Woong Park
-
2014
Context Archers Published later
In the same study diastolic pressure falls significantly, from 69.83 ± 3.97 to 67.5 ± 3.02 mmHg (p = 0.03): the claim concerns systolic pressure, not blood pressure as a whole.
The Effect of EEG And Physiological Changes To Participation in Progressive Relaxation Technique Of The University Archery players · Sang-Nam Nam, Soo-Woong Park
-
2014
Context Archers Published later
Resting heart rate goes from 73.83 to 69.66 beats a minute, with no significant difference (p = 0.18).
The Effect of EEG And Physiological Changes To Participation in Progressive Relaxation Technique Of The University Archery players · Sang-Nam Nam, Soo-Woong Park
Status history
- 2014 Reported Thirteen Korean university women archers do twelve weeks of progressive muscle relaxation, three times a week, with no comparison group. Resting systolic pressure goes from 116.7 to 113.0 millimetres of mercury with no significant difference, and heart rate from 73.8 to 69.7 beats, also not significant; only diastolic falls, from 69.8 to 67.5. With thirteen people and no control group a small effect would not have shown up anyway, and the journal is a regional one: reported, in the direction of the result.
Related
Related articles
Research lines
Cite
Campagna, M. (2026). One study found that twelve weeks of progressive relaxation do not change resting systolic blood pressure in women archers (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/health/progressive-relaxation-blood-pressure-archers
@misc{campagna2026_rilassamentoprogressivopressione,
author = {Campagna, Matteo},
title = {One study found that twelve weeks of progressive relaxation do not change resting systolic blood pressure in women archers},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/health/progressive-relaxation-blood-pressure-archers},
note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}
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