When the brain has identified a threat it will release two chemicals: adrenaline and cortisol. These can have a big impact on the body.
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Many of these can make it hard to perform well. Many athletes report tummy aches and feeling sick before competitions. Some will talk about the racing heart rate or breathing too fast. In sports where a piece of equipment is used to hit a ball (tennis, golf, snooker etc) the back and shoulder tension means that they are unlikely to hit the ball in the way they planned to causing issues and lost points.
The big issue is that our threat system doesn’t just scan the external world for potential risks, it also scans internally within our bodies. When our heart and breathing rates are elevated (even though it was the threat system causing this to happen) then the safety function notices and releases more adrenaline and cortisol to flood the body. It becomes a very unhelpful feedback loop.
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