Heart rate variability shows how tense an archer is in competition

The summary today

That heart rate variability can read an archer's tension in competition is suggested by a single case, and an old one: a Japanese Olympic archer recorded in 1987 between the ends of selection events and the US Open. In the twenty seconds seated between one end and the next, when he reported more tension the interval between beats was shorter and the respiratory component of the variability lower, and on the day his win was already secure both were higher. The same work also shows how delicate the measurement is: it depends on how fast one breathes, it falls when standing, an irregular breath distorts it for about ten seconds, and deep breaths make someone who feels tense look calm. In 2025 two studies arrive that pull in different directions. In eighteen Turkish elite archers the variability measured before a national competition cannot be told apart from that measured before a training session, with an RMSSD of 69.6 against 82.8 milliseconds, while the mean heart rate rises from 68 to 76; reported anxiety does not change either, though, so the null result may simply mean that this competition did not make them more tense. Within the same study, before the competition, those with more somatic anxiety have a higher LF/HF ratio, but it is the only significant correlation out of thirty-three. The same year, in six adolescent archers under official competition conditions, a wristband reading variability at the wrist classifies the reported moments of high and low stress with an accuracy between 68 and 82 per cent, and of the high-stress moments it picks up, depending on the algorithm, between 40 and 85 per cent. The studies on archers do not agree and none is solid: today heart rate variability is a clue to tension in competition, not a measurement to rely on.

Also phrased as: "hrv and competition tension"; "heart rate variability and archer anxiety"; "measuring stress with hrv"; "rmssd before competition"

Evidence

• 1992
  For Archers Published later

  A Japanese Olympic archer recorded at selection events and the 1987 US Open, with 20 s analyses seated between ends: with high reported tension the R-R interval is shorter and respiratory sinus arrhythmia lower, on the day his win was already secure both are higher, and at the US championships respiratory arrhythmia is particularly low, in line with very high reported tension (pp. 911-912). No statistics.

  Development of an Apparatus for Monitoring Degree of Mental Tension · Mieko Ohsuga, Futomi Shimono, Chie Akashi

• 1992
  Context Archers Published later

  In the same recordings, the cases with high reported tension and a large estimated respiratory arrhythmia are explained by deep breaths and body movements: the increased low-frequency component is not fully removed by the filter centred on 0.3 Hz, and a tense archer looks calm (p. 912).

  Development of an Apparatus for Monitoring Degree of Mental Tension · Mieko Ohsuga, Futomi Shimono, Chie Akashi

• 1992
  Context Archers Published later

  With breathing paced by a metronome from 0.2 to 0.45 Hz, in steps of 0.05 Hz and one minute per condition: between 0.2 and 0.3 Hz respiratory arrhythmia falls as breathing rate rises, above 0.3 Hz the dependence is small, and at 0.3-0.45 Hz the archer has R-R intervals of 750-850 ms and an arrhythmia of about 10 ms, as in his relaxed moments in competition. Eyes open or closed make no difference (p. 913, Fig. 4).

  Development of an Apparatus for Monitoring Degree of Mental Tension · Mieko Ohsuga, Futomi Shimono, Chie Akashi

• 1992
  Context Archers Published later

  Measurement conditions matter as much as tension: standing lowers the respiratory component, which is why only the last 20 s of sitting on the bench between ends are analysed (p. 911); an irregular breath just before the measurement distorts it for about 10 s, while with steady breathing 20 s of analysis are enough (p. 913).

  Development of an Apparatus for Monitoring Degree of Mental Tension · Mieko Ohsuga, Futomi Shimono, Chie Akashi

• 1992
  Context Archers Published later

  In the 1988 trials of the device, in training the archer has R-R intervals and respiratory arrhythmia above the typical competition band (R-R 600-800 ms, arrhythmia 10-20 ms), meaning he is more relaxed, and with imagery training the values come back into the competition band in most cases (p. 914).

  Development of an Apparatus for Monitoring Degree of Mental Tension · Mieko Ohsuga, Futomi Shimono, Chie Akashi

• 2017
  Context Review Published later

  Methods review with recommendations for psychophysiological research: following the Task Force guidelines, while the body is moving heart rate variability cannot be read as vagal tone; in real-world settings it can be measured with breathing and activity controlled, but without interpreting vagal tone, and the recommended alternative is to measure just before the task (section HRV Recording and Movement).

  Heart rate variability and cardiac vagal tone in psychophysiological research – recommendations for experiment planning, data analysis, and data reporting · Sylvain Laborde, Emma Mosley, Julian F. Thayer

• 2019
  Context Archers Published later

  30 Turkish novices, heart rate variability measured for 4 minutes seated at rest and then during a session of 10 arrows at 18 m: the ratio of the low to the high band is higher while they shoot than at rest (z = 3.24, p = 0.001). There is no competition and no measure of tension, and the difference between sitting and standing to shoot also depends on posture and effort, which is exactly what the 2017 review says not to read as a state of mind: context. A regional journal.

  Heart Rate Variability, Flow and Emotional Intelligence as Predictors of Novice Archers’ Shooting Accuracy · Nihal Dal, Erman Doğan

• 2025
  Against Archers Published later

  18 Turkish elite archers, 5 minutes seated before a training session and before a national competition: RMSSD 82.83 ± 52.89 against 69.55 ± 65.44 ms (p=0.539), SDNN 75.60 against 67.52 (p=0.621), LF/HF 2.35 against 1.65 (p=0.629), pNN50 37.84 against 28.43 (p=0.195), stress index 7.31 against 9.08 (p=0.191), parasympathetic (p=0.168) and sympathetic (p=0.169) indices with no difference (Table 2, p. 116).

  Elit Okçularda Antrenman ve yarışma Öncesinde Kalp Atım Hızı Değişkenliği ile Kaygı Düzeylerinin İncelenmesi · Melis Aksüy, Melek Makaracı

• 2025
  Context Archers Published later

  In the same study reported anxiety on the CSAI-2 does not change between competition and training either: cognitive 19.27 against 19.22 (p=0.927), somatic 16.27 against 16.55 (p=0.367), confidence 26.77 against 27.55 (p=0.090) (p. 117). If the competition did not make them more tense, the null result for variability counts against the claim less than it seems.

  Elit Okçularda Antrenman ve yarışma Öncesinde Kalp Atım Hızı Değişkenliği ile Kaygı Düzeylerinin İncelenmesi · Melis Aksüy, Melek Makaracı

• 2025
  Context Archers Published later

  Before the competition the heart rate changes even though variability does not: minimum rate from 58.11 ± 7.95 to 67.77 ± 6.37 beats per minute (p=0.001), mean from 67.72 to 75.77 (p=0.008), R-R interval from 902 to 775 ms (p=0.011), while the maximum does not move (84.22 against 90.83, p=0.142) (Table 2, p. 116). At rest variability is high and differs enormously from one athlete to another, with an RMSSD of 82.83 ± 52.89 ms.

  Elit Okçularda Antrenman ve yarışma Öncesinde Kalp Atım Hızı Değişkenliği ile Kaygı Düzeylerinin İncelenmesi · Melis Aksüy, Melek Makaracı

• 2025
  For Archers Published later

  Before the competition those with more somatic anxiety have a higher LF/HF ratio, r=0.536 with p=0.022, while before training no variability measure is linked to anxiety (pp. 117-118). It is the only significant correlation out of 33 examined, so it needs to be treated with great caution.

  Elit Okçularda Antrenman ve yarışma Öncesinde Kalp Atım Hızı Değişkenliği ile Kaygı Düzeylerinin İncelenmesi · Melis Aksüy, Melek Makaracı

• 2025
  For Archers Published later

  6 Chinese adolescent archers at professional level, 4 girls and 2 boys aged 14.9 to 16.3, all on the same day and under official competition conditions: twelve classifiers working on variability read at the wrist, over 30 s windows from the start of the draw to the release, separate high reported stress (4-5 out of 5) from low with an accuracy between 68 and 82%; multilayer perceptron 80%, logistic regression and linear discriminant analysis 82% (Table 2, p. 9). Preprint.

  A Machine Learning-Based Multimodal Framework for Wearable Sensor-Based Archery Action Recognition and Stress Estimation · Xianghe Liu, Jiajia Liu, Chuxian Xu, Minghan Wang, Hongbo Peng, Tao Sun, Jiaqi Xu

• 2025
  Context Archers Published later

  The weak point is sensitivity: of the high-stress moments the classifiers pick up between 40% (Naive Bayes) and 85% (decision tree), and the support vector machine and discriminant analysis, 100% precise when they say high stress, find only 50 and 55% of them (Table 2, p. 9). The measurement window falls during the shot, that is, with the body moving.

  A Machine Learning-Based Multimodal Framework for Wearable Sensor-Based Archery Action Recognition and Stress Estimation · Xianghe Liu, Jiajia Liu, Chuxian Xu, Minghan Wang, Hongbo Peng, Tao Sun, Jiaqi Xu

Status history

1. 1984 Not studied In the registry's bibliography nobody has yet used heart rate variability to read an archer's tension in competition: the question has not been asked.
2. 1992 Reported A Japanese instrumentation engineering journal publishes a study of an Olympic archer recorded in 1987 at selection events and the US Open: in the twenty seconds seated between one end and the next, when he reported more tension the interval between beats was shorter and the respiratory component of the variability lower, and on the day his win was already secure both were higher. The same work shows how fragile the measurement is, because it depends on breathing rate, on posture and on deep breaths, which make a tense archer look calm. A single case, without statistics: reported.
3. 2017 Reported A methods review of heart rate variability in psychophysiological research sets the rules for reading data like those of 1992: while the body is moving, variability cannot be interpreted as vagal tone, and the measurement has to be taken at rest, for example just before the task. It is a general framework, not a study of archers, and it vindicates the 1992 choice of measuring seated between ends, but it rules out reading tension during the shot itself. Nothing new arrives on the question and the status stays reported.
4. 2019 Reported In thirty Turkish novices the ratio of the low to the high band of variability rises from seated rest to the shooting session. There is no competition, though, and no measure of tension, and between sitting and standing posture and effort change too, which under the rules set out in 2017 are not to be read as a state of mind. The question stays where it was, supported only by the 1992 case: reported.
5. 2025 Contested Two studies from the same year pull in different directions. Eighteen Turkish elite archers measured seated before a training session and before the national indoor championship: RMSSD, SDNN, LF/HF, stress index and sympathetic and parasympathetic indices do not tell the two situations apart, while the mean heart rate rises from 68 to 76 per minute. Reported anxiety stays the same too, which weakens the contrary reading, since the competition does not seem to have made them more tense; before the competition, those with more somatic anxiety have a higher LF/HF, but it is the only significant correlation out of thirty-three. In six adolescent archers under official competition conditions, by contrast, variability read at the wrist classifies the reported moments of high and low stress with an accuracy between 68 and 82 per cent, while missing some of the high-stress moments. Studies on archers that do not agree, all of them small: contested.

Related

Related articles

• How fired up you need to be to shoot well: individual bands, distance and relaxationIs there a right level of arousal for shooting well? What the studies say about individual bands, shooting distance and relaxing before an end.
• HRV in archery: what it says about recovery and training loadHRV in archery: which index to use, why the weekly average matters and what research says about recovery, training load and heart rate in competition.

Research lines

• 48 studiesThe heartbeat and the shot: heart rate and HRV since 1981
• 56 studiesAnxiety and confidence in archery competition since 1986

Other claims in this domain

• ReportedA larger working memory does not make an archer more accurate3 studies · 79 archers measuredStatus since 2012
• ReportedA longer quiet eye improves shooting accuracy3 studies · 58 archers measuredStatus since 2017
• ReportedA mental profile tells archers apart from athletes in other sports only in part5 studies · 550 archers measuredStatus since 2018
• ReportedA mental training programme improves the elite archer's mood1 study · 16 archers measuredStatus since 2023
• ReportedA mental training programme reduces burnout in elite archers1 study · 16 archers measuredStatus since 2023

See all claims on mind and attention