Menstrual Cycle

Does it Influence the Anxiety and Confidence of the Swimming Athletes?

Beltasar Tarigan

, Restu Pratiwi

and Rina Ambar Dewanti

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Jln. Dr. Setiabudhi No. 229 Bandung, Indonesia

Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Kelapa Gading, Jakarta, Indonesia.

beltasartarigan@upi.edu

Keywords: Menstrual Cycle, Anxiety, Confidence, Swimming Athletes.

Abstract: This research aims to measure the increase of anxiety level and the decrease of the confidence level of the

swimming athletes on their menstrual cycle. The participants consist of 12 swimming athletes. The result

shows that the increase of the anxiety level on the pre-menstrual phase is about 27%, 33% during the menstrual

phase, and about 36% on the post-menstrual phase. Meanwhile, the decrease of the confidence level on the

pre-menstrual phase is about 27%, 30% during the menstrual phase, and about 35% on the post-menstrual

phase. The conclusion is that the menstrual phase influences the increase of anxiety level and the decrease of

the confidence level of the swimming athletes.

1 INTRODUCTION

To achieve such accomplishment in swimming, a

long-term, focused, and continuous training process

is needed. It starts with developing the athletes

through regular, focused, well-planned training,

which emphasizes the physical, technical, tactical, or

mental aspects. In general, there are many coaches or

athletes who think that such great accomplishments

can be achieved by training continuously while

emphasizing the physical, technical, and tactical only.

But, physiological factors also has the influence

towards the peak of the achievement itself; menstrual

cycle, for instance. The menstrual cycle is a monthly

cycle that happens to women every month. This cycle

is a set of events that affect each other in a complex

way and happens simultaneously (Seeley, Stephens

and Tate, P, 2003 and Nillni, 2015). The term

‘menstrual cycle’ technically refers to the cyclic

change that happens on sexual maturity, women who

don’t get pregnant and are on their menstrual period

instead. Periodically, menstrual cycle happens for 26

to 30 days (Wilson, 1990). Prior to the menstruation,

there is this syndrome known as Pre-Menstruation

Syndrome (PMS). PMS is a set of emotional

symptoms in which they are considered as

inconvenient and negative physical symptoms

affecting the behavior of women in their pre-

menstruation period. Those symptoms, such as

depression, anxiety, short-temper, confusion, temper

tantrum, the feeling of isolation, breast pain, stomach

edema, and so on (Gaion and Vieira, 2011). The

psychological problems that happen during this

menstrual cycle will affect the athletes’ performance

while they are in the process of achieving the

accomplishment, which will decrease their

performance. The psychological symptoms which are

caused by this menstrual cycle, such as anxiety,

confusion, and lack of confidence. The term

‘menstrual cycle’ (men’etroo-al) technically refers to

the cyclic change that happens on sexual maturity,

women who don’t get pregnant and they are on their

menstrual period instead. Anxiety is the insecure

feeling and the worry that follows emerges because

of the feeling that there will be unpleasant thing that

might happen, but the sources are mostly unknown

and it comes from the inside (Kisner, 2009). Anxiety

then becomes a quite interesting thing since it inhibits

under the wide pressure in sports (Moran, 2004 and

Weimberg, Gould, 1995). It means that this negative

situation with the nervous feeling, worry, and anxiety

are related to the activation of the passion inside. To

understand about anxiety, psychological components

exploration is needed and to distinguish the meanings

between fear and arousal (Moran, 2004). In sports,

this anxiety component obviously shows when an

athlete suffers from the physical symptoms like

excessive sweating, rapid heart beat, short and rapid

breath, sweaty palms and inconvenient feeling in the

stomach. Cognitive anxiety is indicated by the

426

Tarigan, B., Pratiwi, R. and Dewanti, R.

Menstrual Cycle - Does it Inﬂuence the Anxiety and Conﬁdence of the Swimming Athletes?.

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Sports Science, Health and Physical Education (ICSSHPE 2017) - Volume 1, pages 426-428

ISBN: 978-989-758-317-9

negative feelings and anxiety, somatic anxiety is

related to the signs of autonomous stimulation

(Moran, 2004 and Matsumoto, Kimura, Hayashi,

2016 and Wesselink, 2016). Confidence is someone’s

belief and attitude towards their own ability by

accepting both the positive and the negative things

that are formed and studied to aim their own

happiness (Tarigan and Pratiwi, 2017). Athletes’

confidence consist of belief in their strength, abilities,

skills to do and to achieve accomplishment and to be

responsible towards the decision made by themselves

(Weimberg and Gould, 1995). One of the most

consistent discoveries in the literature of the peak

performance is the relation between the high

confidence and the successful sports performance.

This means that the confidence is very important in

sports, as they can boost the perormance of the

athletes, even the most successful athletes are

vulnerable to the faltering confidence (Lane, 2008).

Since confidence in sports is important, the athletes

need to maintain it so that the athletes’ confidence

stay in the optimal point. In accordance to that thing

above, this research will measure the level of anxiety

and confidence, reviewed from the menstrual cycle of

the swimming athletes.

2 METHOD

This research uses the Causal Comparative Research

method, in which it is Ex Post Facto. The participants

of this research are the athlets of Unit Kegiatan

Mahasiswa Renang (Aquatic Team) UPI, with 12

people as samples. The questionnaires about anxiety

and confidence as means of the fact-gathering

method.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

According to the data processing and analysis, the

result of the research shows that the decrease on

anxiety on the pre-menstruation state is 27%, 33%

during the menstruation and 36% after the menstrual-

period. Whereas the decrease on the pre-menstrual

state is 27%, 30% during the menstruation, and 35%

after the menstrual-period, as presented on Table 1.

Table 1: The effect of the menstrual cycle on the decrease

of anxiety and confidence of the swimming athletes.

The data shown on Table 1 shows that the highest

increase on the athletes anxiety happen on the state

after the menstrual-period, which is 36%, and the

lowest decrease of confidence after the menstrual-

period is 35%. Related to the increase and the

decrease of anxiety and confidence of the swimming

athletes, respectively, they are in line with the result

of the research conducted by B. Tarigan and R.

Pratiwi on the athletic athletes (2017) which shows

that the state of menstruation can affect the physical

condition and the performance, and to the increase of

anxiety and the decrease of the confidence of the

athletes.

Figure 1: The effects of menstruation on anxiety.

Figure 2: The effects of menstruation on confidence.

100

120

Anxiety

No Menstrual Cycle

The

Increase of

Anxiety

The Decrease

Confidence

1 Pre-Menstrual State 27% 27%

2 Menstrual Period 33% 30%

3Pos

-Menstrual State 36% 35%

100

120

Confidence

Menstrual Cycle - Does it Inﬂuence the Anxiety and Conﬁdence of the Swimming Athletes?

427

4 CONCLUSIONS

The result of the research shows that the increase on

the swimming athletes’ anxiety level after the

menstrual-period is 27%, 33% during the

menstruation, and 36% after the menstrual-period.

Whereas the decrease of confidence to the state prior

to the menstruation is 27%, 30% during the

menstrual-period, and 35% after the menstrual-

period. The highest increase of anxiety that happens

after the menstrual-period (36%), as well as the

lowest decrease of confidence that happens after the

menstrual-period (35%).

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