The lower end of the range corresponds to linear thinking and problem solving. At the high end of the range, however, you've really redlined your anxiety, and your body may tense up and become difficult to control. When it comes to peak performance, sports psychologists are learning that during stressful activity or competition, many athletes tend to hyperfocus. The chemistry of exertion changes the speed of decision making. You start questioning and it takes you off target.
Some people can come right back to what they are supposed to do.
Other people start looking at consequences and tighten up in the muscles. Here's where neurofeedback and EEG monitors prove invaluable. This is particularly important because it's virtually impossible to recognize the subtle physiological differences in various states of relaxation without the appropriate monitoring device. A fish that's in water, the saying goes, doesn't know it's in water. When one is preparing to release an arrow, beta waves permeate the brain's left hemisphere.