With summer around the corner, many of us look forward to getting outside and participating in sports, whether it's serious training or casual fun. Golf is one of my favorite sports, but I've always wondered why the ball often veers off course on the first tee, especially when an audience is watching from the clubhouse veranda. Even though nothing has changed, something feels different when under pressure. This observation led me to explore the relationship between sports performance and mental wellness.

Academic studies suggest two main theories as to why golfers, or athletes in general, experience the "yips," a decline in performance under pressure. One theory is called distraction theory, which suggests that our minds become overloaded by external events, such as a crowded gallery, leading to a decline in ability. The other theory, called self-focus theory, proposes that performance is impacted by our self-awareness and the pressure we feel from how others perceive us. In either case, anxiety levels play a significant role.

 Research also shows a link between sports performance at all levels and mental wellness. Cognitive skills such as focus, concentration, and visualization are essential for athletes to perform at their best. Mental health can also help athletes cope with the stress and pressure of competition, recover from injuries, and maintain motivation and a positive attitude.

 To improve our mental wellness, we must first recognize that we may not even realize we have any conditions that affect our wellness, and if we do, we may not know if they are impacting our performance. Several mental health conditions may interfere with our performance in sports and life, including anxiety disorders, ADHD, depression, and PTSD.

 PsycHealth's SelfView mental health checkup can help identify 24 common mental health conditions in your report, color-coded as red for conditions that should be treated as a disorder, yellow for high conditions that are not of immediate concern, and green for conditions that tested normally. If you want to seek treatment for any reason, bring your SelfView report to your doctor or sports psychologist as a starting point for discussion. We have referral sources available on our website that you can consider.

 In summary, mental wellness is crucial for optimal sports performance, and understanding our mental health is the first step in addressing any issues impacting our performance.

References to support the information provided:

1. Arnsten, A. F. T. (2009). Stress signaling pathways that impair prefrontal cortex structure and function. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10(6), 410-422.

2. Beilock, S. L., & Carr, T. H. (2001). On the fragility of skilled performance: What governs choking under pressure? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 130(4), 701-725.

3. Böheim, R., Grübl, D., & Lackner, M. (2019). Choking under pressure—Evidence of the causal effect of audience size on performance. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 168, 76–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2019.10.001

4. Eysenck, M. W., Derakshan, N., Santos, R., & Calvo, M. G. (2007). Anxiety and cognitive performance: attentional control theory. Emotion, 7(2), 336-353.

5. MedlinePlus. (2021). Anxiety. Retrieved from https://medlineplus.gov/anxiety.html