Matteo Campagna
ITEN
Menu
Menu

Archers who shoot better are more relaxed

1 study · 30 archers measured

There is a single Chinese study of thirty male archers split into three groups of ten by training performance, with a relaxation index computed from a consumer-grade single-channel electroencephalogram on a 0 to 100 scale. The best group has the highest mean index, 59.4 against 45.0 in the middle group and 52.7 in the group that most often misses the target (p < 0.01). The same pattern shows arrow by arrow: in the 51 arrows that scored ten the index is 58.2, in the 118 below the seven ring 45.4 (p < 0.05). The picture does not rise with performance, though, because the group that misses the target is more relaxed than the middle one, and the index comes from a proprietary algorithm whose calculation the article does not explain. It is a small cross-sectional comparison, in a journal with questionable editorial standards: the registry reports it but does not use it to decide the status, which remains not studied.

Also phrased as: "shooting relaxed"; "staying loose"; "calm and score"; "mental relaxation in archery"; "tension and accuracy"

In practice

It is often said that good shooting comes from a loose archer: tension wastes energy, and those who manage to stay calm between arrows shoot more consistently.

Evidence

  • 2023
    Context Archers Published later

    Venue with questionable editorial standards: this result does not count towards the status. 30 male archers split into three groups of 10 by training performance, with the relaxation index computed by the software of a consumer single-channel electroencephalogram (0 to 100 scale): best group 59.39 ± 10.37, middle group 45.00 ± 9.95, off-target group 52.73 ± 11.22. The best group exceeds the other two (p < 0.01), while between the middle and off-target groups the difference is not significant and runs the opposite way.

    CONCENTRATION IMPROVEMENT TEST FOR ATHLETES IN ARCHERY TRAINING Questionable venue · Chen Feng

  • 2023
    Context Archers Published later

    Venue with questionable editorial standards: this result does not count towards the status. In the same study, comparing arrows: in the 51 ten-ring arrows the relaxation index is 58.16 ± 19.82, in the 118 arrows below the seven ring 45.42 ± 16.41 (p < 0.05). Concentration, measured with the same device, does not differ between the two sets of arrows (44.23 against 41.19).

    CONCENTRATION IMPROVEMENT TEST FOR ATHLETES IN ARCHERY TRAINING Questionable venue · Chen Feng

Status history

  1. 1990 Not studied In the registry's bibliography nobody had yet compared a measure of relaxation between archers of different performance.
  2. 2023 Not studied The first and only study arrives: thirty male archers split into three groups of ten by training performance, with a relaxation index from an electroencephalogram. The best group has the highest index, 59.4 against 45.0 in the middle group and 52.7 in the group that misses the target (p < 0.01), and ten-ring arrows come with a higher index than those below the seven, 58.2 against 45.4. Between the middle group and the one that misses, though, the order is reversed. It is a small cross-sectional comparison, in a journal with questionable editorial standards: the registry reports it but does not use it to decide the status, which remains not studied.

Related

Research lines

Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). Archers who shoot better are more relaxed (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/relaxation-better-shooting

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_rilassamentotiromigliore,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {Archers who shoot better are more relaxed},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/relaxation-better-shooting},
  note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Other claims in this domain

See all claims on mind and attention