With a high chance of your races being cancelled, how do you keep your head? Some might think: “What is the point of training, as with competitions being cancelled my training will be wasted?” Well, this is one way of looking at it. But one that is not that helpful. If you stop training, you will lose fitness, performance, the good mental benefits from running…. You will likely end-up in a psychological hole. Instead, my advice is to see this as an opportunity, such as one: To train and prepare for a race as usual, with less pressure, as the race might be cancelled. Making the build-up less ..read more

I was interviewed by TRT World TV News on research published today on the health risks associated with being a football fan. The research was published in the Journal Stress and Health by the University of Oxford (see the BBC here). I thought that I would write a short piece on this interesting research, so here goes: The Oxford study tested saliva from Brazilian fans during the 2014 World Cup. This World Cup was on home soil. Brazilian supporters and a passionate group. Imagine for a moment how much hope fans had for their team – a strong team on the world stage – for them winning the World ..read more

A recent podcast interview with Runners World UK, on the topic of Fear of Failure in runners got me thinking about this area. (If you want to listen to the full podcast, check it out here.) Here’s my blog entry on the fear of failure in runners – which will relate to more than runners, quite possibly all sportspeople. Maybe even you. First off, what do we mean by Fear of Failure? A fear of failure is a fear, stress, or anxiety around making a mistake, an error, fool of yourself, of coming up short, of disappointing yourself or other people. How does a Fear of Failure show itself in runners? A ..read more

News broke today showing evidence from a systematic review in The British Journal of Sports Medicine of 14 studies, with over 230,000 participants, that running was associated with a 27% reduction in mortality rate. There was no demonstrable variance in benefit associated with how far, how fast or how often participants ran. In short, any running was good. This got me thinking about why running might be good for our mental health – with physical and mental health going together, and with me as a psychologist. First off, I have a confession to make. I am a keen runner. I compete in triathlons ..read more

The important issue of support for rugby players who are struggling psychologically - due to injury, being dropped from their team or who are struggling due to factors outside the rugby game - are highlighted by Gareth Anscombe in an interview published in the Telegraph and Wales Online. Anscombe states that: "There is more money involved now and I think the sports psychology side of the game definitely needs to improve. There needs to more support given. We need to educate guys on how to deal with mental health struggles and the pressure that comes with rugby." The piece also mentions that An ..read more

The Telegraph newspaper had published an article on British actor Christopher Eccleston’s disclosure of his struggles with anorexia Being interviewed for this article got me thinking about writing a post on this often-hidden issue in men. So, here are my thoughts on how it develops and why it is such an important problem to help. What is anorexia? In short, anorexia – or to give it it’s full title anorexia nervosa – is an obsessive and distorted repulsion of being big/fat, plus deliberate efforts to eat less than needed for normal functioning, leading to the body entering a starvation state. A ..read more

With the London Marathon in a few days time, I thought that it might be time to give you a couple of sports psychology tips for the marathon. There are more mental tips and psychological techniques that you can apply, but these two will give you a great foundation to the event. Tip 1: Go to the movies in your mind To help you feel more confident, use imagery or visualisation, to rehearse the marathon day, working out how you'll be, what you'll do, and what will give you a great experience (and performance). Then you are more likely to better manage the day and get more out of it. Here goes ..read more

In sport injuries happen. They are tough things to cope with. Mark Cavendish has had many injuries as a professional cyclist . Those of us who have seen him race at races such as the Tour de France, can probably remember some of those dramatic crashes. Seeing images of him later with deep grazes, bruises or broken bones. Most injuries in sport are caused by forceful impacts or when we have pushed our body too far, when something inside goes snap. Cavendish's interview on BBC Sport got me thinking about another type of injuries or physical malfunction that athletes face - the less dramatic, mor ..read more

Isn’t it great that the nation is disappointed with losing our in the World Cup semi-final with Croatia? How did this happen? What can we learn from the England team’s performance at the World Cup? Gather the best people to help you – the support staff of coaches, physiotherapists, nutritionists … and maybe even a psychologist Build good relationships and cohesion between you and your teammates and support staff Create a plan for how you will improve weaknesses (penalties anyone?) and further improve strengths Believe in your plan Apply yourself, put the work in Dare to go for it, to do wh ..read more

I thought that I’d share this article with you, which highlights psychological distress, common psychological problems or mental health issues in athletes in New Zealand and Australia. It does a great job of describing the problem, the reasons behind them and details on where Kiwi athletes can get help. Mental health problems can develop in anyone – athlete or non-athlete. Sport provides us with a lot that is good. It also can provide significant challenges, stresses, pressure and tough environments to navigate. The article mentions a 2014 survey of 224 elite Australian athletes, published in ..read more