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What is the difference between Anxiety and Arousal?
Anxiety is a negative emotional state that results from perceiving a situation as fearful and frightening. Anxiety, regardless of if it’s state or trait, has a negative impact on performance as it affects the athlete’s mindset and confidence, this lends to them being stressed and nervous and hence affects their ability to reach their performance potential. Arousal is the physical and mental activation or intensity exhibited at a specific point in time. Arousal differs from anxiety in that a certain amount is necessary for optimal arousal to be achieved. The amount of arousal required differs from individual to individual and from sport to sport. Although, if arousal levels are too low or too high from the required level, they will not be alert enough or overly alert lending to them not being concentrated, and it will like anxiety have a negative impact on performance.