Matteo Campagna
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In the second half of Ramadan, fasting archers find it harder to concentrate

2 studies · 24 archers measured

ForContextAgainst2010201220142016201820202022202420262023, context, n = 132011, for, n = 112011, context, n = 11
Each circle is a study: its position gives the year, its row whether it is for, against or context, its size how many participants it measured. Light circles are studies on other populations or without archers.

The only study that says so is built on memories. Eleven Malaysian national team archers, interviewed two or three weeks after the end of Ramadan, describe the first two weeks and the last two: early on 45 per cent speak of mental experiences such as liveliness and focus, in the second half 73 per cent speak of distraction, lethargy and low drive, and six out of eleven name distraction as the main problem. The picture is not all negative, because the anger and irritability of the early days give way to accounts of control and adjustment, and almost two archers in three speak of a spiritual side, though mostly in the first half. In 2023 a second Malaysian group, thirteen state-level boys, measured mood before and during the fast with a questionnaire: confusion, the scale closest to concentration, does not change, tension actually falls, and the score over 36 arrows at 70 metres stays the same. There, though, the week of measurement is not stated, so there is no saying whether it speaks to the second half of the month.

Also phrased as: "fasting and archery"; "concentration during Ramadan"; "training during Ramadan"; "archers who fast"; "distraction during the fast"

In practice

Among archers who fast it is said that the first week is the hardest on the body and the last ones on the mind, and that in the final days it makes sense to move shooting to after the fast is broken and cut the arrow count rather than force concentration.

Evidence

Status history

  1. 2011 Reported Eleven Malaysian national team archers look back on their Ramadan: in the first two weeks 45 per cent report mental experiences of liveliness and focus, in the third and fourth 73 per cent report distraction, lethargy and low drive, and six out of eleven name distraction as the main factor. The picture is not only negative: early on anger and irritability dominate, giving way in the second half to accounts of control and adjustment, and 63 per cent report spiritual experiences, though mostly in the first half. These are retrospective interviews with eleven people, so reported.
  2. 2023 Reported The first measurement taken during the fast rather than recalled afterwards arrives: thirteen young Malaysian archers fill in a mood questionnaire a month before Ramadan and during the month. Confusion does not change (4.2 against 3.8), tension falls from 4.7 to 2.5 and is the only scale to move, and the score over 36 arrows at 70 metres stays put. The paper does not say in which week the second measurement was taken, though, so it does not test the second half of the month: the picture widens, the status stays reported.

Related

Related articles

Research lines

Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). In the second half of Ramadan, fasting archers find it harder to concentrate (Version 1). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/ramadan-concentration-archers

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_ramadandifficoltamentali,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {In the second half of Ramadan, fasting archers find it harder to concentrate},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/ramadan-concentration-archers},
  note = {Version 1; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

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