Matteo Campagna
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The heartbeat and the shot: from the 1981 measurements to heart rates read off competition video

More than forty years of measurements on archers' hearts, from the heart rate monitor in the laboratory to heart rate estimated from facial colour in competition footage. This is the story of those studies: how far heart rate rises during shooting, whether a slower heart goes with better arrows, what heart rate variability says, and why many of these questions remain open.

Studies in the registry
48
On archers
37
Years
1981-2025

The question

Archers feel their heart on the shooting line, and for more than forty years research has been trying to work out whether that heartbeat has anything to do with the score. There are now three questions: how far heart rate rises during shooting; whether a slower heart, or one that slows in the last few seconds, goes with the better arrows; and what heart rate variability, or HRV, says about the archer's state. The instruments have moved from the heart rate monitor in the laboratory to heart rate estimated from the colour of the face in competition footage.

This page follows the studies in chronological order. The article on HRV in archery explains what HRV is, and the method page on heart rate measurement explains how it is measured.

1981-1994: heart rate rises, but what happens before release?

The first figure came from Japan. In 1981 Tsuji and colleagues measured six university archers: heart rate went from 71 beats per minute at rest to 99 straight after three arrows at 30 m, but the set included running to collect the arrows, so shooting and running cannot be separated. In 1984 the same group saw heart rate rise as soon as the end began and return to resting values about two minutes later.

In 1990 two studies appeared that contradict each other. In four elite Australian archers and 240 arrows, Keast and Elliott found that the cardiac cycle lengthened before the good arrows, starting at least six beats before release. In the same year Salazar and colleagues, working with 28 archers from the US national teams, saw no slowing during aiming: over the last 3-4 seconds heart rate rose on average from 100.7 to 104.2. In 1994, in kyudo, five university archers saw the peak heart rate of each shot rise in competition to averages between 138 and 162, with no link to the hit rate.

Meanwhile two reviews, in 2005 and in 2024, reported at second hand studies from 1994 and 1998 in which heart rate slowed before release, without figures. Among the studies read for the registry, the slowing was measured directly again only thirty years later, and by a single Indian group. In seven elite archers and 210 arrows at 18 m heart rate fell from five seconds before to one second after release; in thirty-two archers the lowest point came two or three seconds after release, with the arrow already gone. This is why the claim that the heart slows before release is contested.

The phase of the cycle and the heartbeat in headphones

Keast had also seen the good arrows leave in two clusters within the cardiac cycle. The diastole question has been put to the test only once, in 2009: in thirty-six Japanese archers at 50 m arrows released in diastole scored 7.3 points on average against 6.8 for those released in systole, and listening to their own heartbeat through headphones raised the six-arrow total from 42.3 to 44.4. With the heartbeat in the headphones, though, the phase of release and the regularity of shot timing change together, and the study has not been replicated: the entries on release in diastole and on the heartbeat in headphones remain at "reported".

Heart rate variability

Among the registry's studies, the first HRV measurement on an archer appeared in 1992: a Japanese Olympic archer, recorded seated between ends, showed shorter intervals between beats and a smaller respiratory component when reporting more tension. In 2008 a conference abstract on sixteen Taiwanese archers found more high-frequency activity in each archer's three best arrows, without reporting a single value; in 2011 seventeen adolescent archers in competition gave the opposite result, with higher scores associated with the low band and the ratio between the bands, and with shot time as the strongest predictor.

In 2017 a methodological review from psychophysiology called many of those numbers into question: the band ratio does not measure the balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic activity, the high band reflects vagal tone only when breathing is between 9 and 24 breaths a minute, and variability cannot be read as vagal tone while the body is moving. That is why the entry on RMSSD as the index is "transferred": nobody has compared the indices on archers.

Recent studies give small or inconsistent results. In 22 novices, shooting a real bow took heart rate to 109 beats per minute against 97 in virtual reality, and RMSSD rose 10.3% above rest while in the headset it fell 19.8%: a single study, on students at the end of a course rather than trained archers, so the entry on shooting in virtual reality is "transferred". In eighteen elite Turkish archers variability before a national competition could not be told apart from variability before training, while mean heart rate rose from 68 to 76; reported anxiety, however, did not change either. So the idea that HRV reads tension in competition is contested, as is the idea that parasympathetic activity is higher on the best arrows.

Heart rate and score: observing or intervening

On the central question, observations and experiments point in opposite directions. In observational studies a lower heart rate often goes with higher scores: in 2025 this was found by a study of forty-five Turkish traditional archers, with a correlation of -0.877 in women and -0.552 in men, and in a study of fifty video clips from international competitions, where heart rate estimated from the face was related to score with a coefficient of -0.618, even though in that study the estimate is not checked against any instrument.

When an intervention moves heart rate, on the other hand, the score does not follow. In 2019 thirteen elite archers brought to 166-168 beats per minute by running shot at 18 m just as they did at rest; in 2021, in a double-blind placebo-controlled study, two beta-blockers lowered the heart rate of fifteen Turkish national team archers by 12.8% and 8.6% without improving the score, and with nicotine gum eleven recurve archers had both a higher heart rate and a higher score. A 2022 systematic review counts four studies on elite archers, and in none of them is heart rate related to score. The claim that a lower heart rate at the moment of the shot improves the score is therefore contested.

What holds today

The most consistent finding is that heart rate rises in competition: every study that has measured it finds this, and most measurements taken during shooting fall between 95 and 110 beats per minute, as gathered in the entry on heart rate while shooting. How far it rises above the same archer's resting value has been reported in beats per minute by only one study, from 82 to 95, and the entry on heart rate in competition above rest remains at "reported". On score, the most cautious reading is that a lower heart rate accompanies a good shot without causing it, because when heart rate was shifted from outside the score stayed where it was.

For variability the picture is weaker, and the entries on emotion regulation and on experienced versus novice archers each rest on a single study.

What remains open

Nobody has looked for the breathing rate that maximises variability in an archer, or tested heart rate variability biofeedback against competition anxiety in archers; the only cardiac biofeedback on archers in the registry, in 2011, used heart rate rather than variability, on three athletes and with no control group. The entries on six breaths a minute and on biofeedback rest on studies of other populations, and the one on mental training on five pistol shooters. The comparison between women and men archers has two small studies that contradict each other. On the slowing before release there is still no measurement independent of the Indian group's, fine enough to separate aiming, release and the seconds that follow, at an official recurve competition.

How we came to know it

  1. 1981OriginTsuji et al. 1981 Physical Fitness and Energy Metabolism of the Archers (1)The first figure for an archer's heart rate: in six Japanese university archers it rises from 71 beats per minute at rest to 99 after three arrows at 30 m, though the set includes running to collect the arrows.
  2. 1984ExtensionTsuji et al. 1984 Physical Fitness and Energy Metabolism of the Archers (Part 2)With three bows of different draw weight, heart rate in ten students rises as soon as the end begins, stays high throughout the shooting and returns to resting values about two minutes later.
  3. 1990OriginKeast et al. 1990 Fine Body Movements and the Cardiac Cycle in ArcheryIn four elite archers and 240 arrows the cardiac cycle lengthens before the good arrows, starting at least six beats before release, and those arrows leave in two clusters within the cycle.
  4. 1990ContradictionSalazar et al. 1990 Hemispheric Asymmetry, Cardiac Response, and Performance in Elite ArchersIn 28 archers from the US national teams heart rate does not slow during aiming: over the last 3-4 seconds it rises on average from 100.7 to 104.2 beats per minute.
  5. 1992MethodOhsuga et al. 1992 Development of an Apparatus for Monitoring Degree of Mental TensionThe first heart rate variability measurement on an Olympic archer, taken between competition ends: with higher reported tension the intervals between beats shorten and the respiratory component falls.
  6. 1994ContradictionMiyamoto 1994 Changes of Heart Rate, Somatic Anxiety, and Performance of Japanese Archers during Practices and MatchesIn five kyudo archers the peak heart rate of each shot rises in competition to averages between 138 and 162, with no link to the hit rate.
  7. 1996MethodCardiology 1996 Heart rate variability: Standards of measurement, physiological interpretation, and clinical useGuidelines from the European Society of Cardiology and the North American society of pacing and electrophysiology set out how heart rate variability is measured: for short recordings the standard is five minutes.
  8. 2008OriginLo et al. 2008 A study of the relationship between heart rate variability and archery performanceA conference abstract on sixteen pre-elite Taiwanese archers finds more high-frequency activity in each archer's three best arrows, without reporting values or tests.
  9. 2008ExtensionMedeiros Filho et al. 2008 Affective and Physiological States during Archery Competitions: Adopting and Enhancing the Probabilistic Methodology of Individual Affect-Related Performance Zones (IAPZs)Three Brazilian archers followed for a season: the arousal and heart rate zones linked to their best ends differ from archer to archer and from distance to distance.
  10. 2009OriginTakai et al. 2009 Physiological and Psychological Changes Caused by Archery Athletes Monitoring Their Own Heartbeat in Shooting Situation, and the Effects on PerformanceIn 36 Japanese archers at 50 m, arrows released in diastole score 7.3 points against 6.8, and with their own heartbeat in headphones the six-arrow total rises from 42.3 to 44.4.
  11. 2011ContradictionCarrillo et al. 2011 Autonomic nervous system modulation during an archery competition in novice and experienced adolescent archersIn 17 adolescent archers in competition higher scores go with the low band and the band ratio; the experienced archers have higher RMSSD and pNN50 than the novices.
  12. 2011ExtensionHong 2011 Effect of Arousal Control Training Conjugated Heart Rate Biofeedback for National Substitute Archery PlayersThree candidates for the Korean national team follow 24 weeks of arousal control with heart rate biofeedback: reported somatic anxiety falls from 2.67 to 1.92 out of 4, with no control group and no statistical tests.
  13. 2012ExtensionPaul et al. 2012 Effect of sensory motor rhythm neurofeedback on psycho-physiological, electro-encephalographic measures and performance of archery playersIn 24 Indian university archers, over a 72-arrow competition at 70 m, mean heart rate sits between 110 and 116 beats per minute: the first measurement on a whole group across an entire competition.
  14. 2014ReviewLehrer et al. 2014 Heart rate variability biofeedback: how and why does it work?A review from outside archery describes heart rate variability biofeedback: at around six breaths a minute heartbeat and breathing move in phase and the oscillations of the heartbeat peak.
  15. 2016ContradictionLankford et al. 2016 The Effect Of Fatigue And Elevated Heart Rate On Archery Shot PerformanceIn a conference abstract on 15 experienced compound archers, heart rate at the moment of the shot is not related to the accuracy of the first arrow after exertion (r = -0.024 and 0.24 with the two bows).
  16. 2017MethodLaborde et al. 2017 Heart rate variability and cardiac vagal tone in psychophysiological research – recommendations for experiment planning, data analysis, and data reportingThe standard methodological review recommends RMSSD for vagal tone and states that the band ratio does not measure the balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic activity.
  17. 2019ContradictionAçıkada et al. 2019 Effect of heart rate on shooting performance in elite archersThirteen elite archers brought to 166-168 beats per minute by running score the same at 18 m as at rest.
  18. 2019ExtensionDal 2019 The Influence of Trait Emotional Intelligence on Archers' Autonomic Cardiac Recovery Responses Immediately After a Shooting SessionIn 86 novice students, after ten arrows, those who report better emotion regulation have more power in the low and high bands (r = 0.30 and 0.33).
  19. 2019MethodLo Presti et al. 2019 Cardio-Respiratory Monitoring in Archery Using a Smart Textile Based on Flexible Fiber Bragg Grating SensorsTwo elastic bands with fibre-optic sensors read breathing and heart rate during shooting: in two archers at 70 m heart rate per shot ranges from 82 to 120.5 beats per minute.
  20. 2020ReplicationGuru et al. 2020 Heart Rate Values During Shooting is a Field-Side Performance Analysis Tool in Archery-A study of Elite Indian ArchersSeven elite Indian archers, 210 arrows at 18 m: heart rate falls from five seconds before to one second after release, and the 8s, only seven of them, leave with about eight more beats per minute than the 9s and 10s.
  21. 2020ExtensionSavvides et al. 2020 Effects of Dehydration on Archery Performance, Subjective Feelings and Heart Rate during a Competition SimulationTen Cypriot national-level archers in a simulated competition at 70 m: heart rate stays above rest for all 72 arrows, whether hydrated or dehydrated.
  22. 2021ContradictionErgen et al. 2021 Effects of beta-blockers on archery performance, body sway and aiming behaviourIn a double-blind placebo-controlled trial two beta-blockers lower the heart rate of fifteen national team archers by 12.8% and 8.6%, and the score does not improve.
  23. 2021ExtensionHung et al. 2021 Nicotine supplementation enhances simulated game performance of archery athletesThe first measurement in beats per minute during a simulated competition alongside the same archers' resting values: from 82 to 95 in eleven recurve archers, in the placebo arm.
  24. 2022ReviewVendrame et al. 2022 Performance assessment in archery: a systematic reviewA systematic review of 41 studies counts four on elite archers, and in none of them is heart rate related to score.
  25. 2023ContradictionSalleh et al. 2023 Comparative Characteristics of Psychophysiological and Shooting Performance Between Intermediate and Elite Compound ArchersIn 20 Malaysian state-squad compound archers heart rate during the test does not separate the better archers and is not associated with score (r = 0.11).
  26. 2023ExtensionOktafiranda et al. 2023 Analysis of heart rate and scores in student archery athletesIn ten Indonesian university archers in a simulated competition the women aim at 142 beats per minute and the men at 128, but the women also have almost half the years of practice.
  27. 2024ExtensionDal et al. 2024 Comparison of Heart Rate Variability Psychological Responses and Performance in Virtual and Real ArcheryIn 22 novices, shooting a real bow takes heart rate to 109 beats per minute against 97 in virtual reality, and RMSSD rises 10.3% above rest in real shooting while falling 19.8% in the virtual version.
  28. 2025ContradictionAksüy et al. 2025 Elit Okçularda Antrenman ve yarışma Öncesinde Kalp Atım Hızı Değişkenliği ile Kaygı Düzeylerinin İncelenmesiIn eighteen elite Turkish archers variability before a national competition cannot be told apart from variability before training, while mean heart rate rises from 68 to 76.
  29. 2025MethodAn et al. 2025 Contactless Estimation of Heart Rate and Arm Tremor from Real Competition Footage of Elite ArchersHeart rate estimated from facial colour in 50 clips of international competition is related to score (rho = -0.618), but the estimate is not checked against any instrument.
  30. 2025ReplicationEyibil et al. 2025 The Effects of Physical Fitness and Physiological Variables on Archery Performance in Traditional Turkish ArchersIn 45 Turkish traditional archers those shooting with a lower mean heart rate score more, with correlations of -0.877 in women and -0.552 in men, over five arrows.
  31. 2025ExtensionGuru et al. 2025 Can we predict archery performance using shooting heart rate and other biophysical parameters? A machine learning approachThe same Indian group, 32 archers and two sessions of 30 arrows: heart rate falls, but the greatest deceleration comes two or three seconds after release.
  32. 2025ExtensionLiu et al. 2025 A Machine Learning-Based Multimodal Framework for Wearable Sensor-Based Archery Action Recognition and Stress EstimationA wrist-worn band on six adolescent archers in competition conditions classifies moments of reported stress with an accuracy of 68 to 82%.

Studies in this line

Related claims

Claims in the registry with at least one of these studies among their evidence.

149 claims · 89% with evidence on archers

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Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). The heartbeat and the shot: heart rate and HRV since 1981. In Research. matteocampagna.com. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/research/heart-rate-hrv

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_enresearchheartratehrv,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {The heartbeat and the shot: heart rate and HRV since 1981},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Research, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/research/heart-rate-hrv},
  note = {accessed 2026-10-16}
}