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While aiming, women archers have a higher heart rate than men

3 studies · 71 archers measured

ForContextAgainst20202022202420262020, context, n = 392023, against, n = 222023, for, n = 10
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.

Two small studies, published in the same year, give opposite answers, and neither was designed for this question. In ten university recurve archers from Jakarta, during a simulated competition of fifteen arrows shot in alternation, the four women averaged 142 beats per minute while aiming against 128 for the six men, about fourteen more (p = 0.026). In that group, however, the women also had almost half the years of practice, 3.5 against 6.2, and a lower score, 6.47 against 7.97 per arrow: the higher heart rate may reflect experience rather than sex. In twenty-two registered archers aged 11 to 14, six girls and sixteen boys, who shot ten arrows at 18 m before and after a mental arithmetic task, mean heart rate did not differ between boys and girls; here, though, the figures by sex are not reported, the measurement covers the whole series rather than just the aim, and the task did not raise heart rate even in the group as a whole. A 2020 study of 39 novices finds that heart rate variability changes in the same way in men and women while shooting, but it does not report heart rate. With two studies on archers pointing in opposite directions, the question remains open.

Also phrased as: "women have a higher heart rate while aiming"; "heart rate in men and women archers"; "aiming heart rate in women"; "sex differences in heart rate"; "heart rate while aiming by sex"

In practice

With heart rate monitors now common, more and more attention goes to heart rate while aiming, and the values of men and women are sometimes compared as if they sat on the same scale.

Evidence

  • 2020
    Context Archers Published later

    39 university students with no shooting experience (27 men, 12 women), ten arrows in four minutes at 18 m on an 80 cm face in the course's final exam, heart rate variability recorded at rest, while shooting and during recovery: with the LF and HF components and the LF/HF ratio normalised to rest, men and women do not differ (MANOVA, Pillai's V 0.080, F(6, 32) = 0.465, η² = 0.08) and show almost identical changes. It measures heart rate variability, not heart rate, so it does not answer the question.

    Autonomic Cardiac Activity Among Novice Archers During Baseline, Shooting, and Recovery · Serdar Tok, Nihal Dal, Aylin Zekioğlu, Fatih Çatıkkaş, İlker Balıkçı, Erman Doğan

  • 2023
    For Archers Published later

    10 university recurve archers from Jakarta (6 men, 4 women), simulated competition with alternating shooting, 5 series of 3 arrows in 180 seconds, heart rate measured from aiming to release: men 128.13 ± 7.11 beats per minute, women 142.37 ± 9.55, a mean difference of 14.24 (t = −2.719, p = 0.026). The women also had fewer years of practice (3.5 ± 2.08 against 6.2 ± 2.14) and a lower score (6.47 against 7.97 per arrow, p = 0.042). Regional journal.

    Analysis of heart rate and scores in student archery athletes · Nadya Dwi Oktafiranda, Sri Indah Ihsani, Kuswahyudi Kuswahyudi

  • 2023
    Against Archers Published later

    22 registered archers aged 11 to 14 (6 girls, 16 boys), heart rate recorded with a chest strap while they shot 10 arrows at 18 m, before and after a mental arithmetic task taken from the TSST-C: the authors report that mean heart rate does not differ significantly between girls and boys, without giving the values by sex. The task did not raise heart rate even in the whole group (p = 0.680), and the measurement covers the series, not the aim alone.

    Anxiety sensitivity, stress, and postural control: their implications on archery performance in 11-14-year-olds · Hayrettin Hayri Tokmakci, Serkan Özgür, Tuncay Varol

Status history

  1. 1990 Not studied No study in the registry's bibliography has yet compared the heart rate of men and women archers at the same moment of the shot.
  2. 2020 Not studied The first comparison between men and women while shooting looks at heart rate variability, not heart rate. In 39 novice university students, 27 men and 12 women, shooting ten arrows at 18 m in their course exam, the changes from rest in the low and high frequency components are almost identical in the two sexes, both while shooting and during recovery. It hints that the heart's response to shooting does not change with sex, but nobody has yet compared heart rate while aiming.
  3. 2023 Contested Two studies arrive in the same year and contradict each other. In ten university archers from Jakarta in a simulated competition the women have about fourteen more beats per minute than the men while aiming, but also almost half the years of practice. In twenty-two registered archers aged 11 to 14, with heart rate recorded while they shoot ten arrows before and after a mental arithmetic task, there is no difference between boys and girls. Studies on archers pointing in opposite directions, both small and with different measurements: contested.

Related

Related articles

Research lines

Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). While aiming, women archers have a higher heart rate than men (Version 3). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/competition/heart-rate-women-and-men-archers

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_frequenzacardiacauominidonne,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {While aiming, women archers have a higher heart rate than men},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/competition/heart-rate-women-and-men-archers},
  note = {Version 3; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

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