AROUSAL: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING PRODUCTIVE OR DESTRUCTIVE

The connection between mental arousal and work performance is not discussed as frequently as it should. Only the most basic of jobs benefit from the blistering speed of caffeine-fueled drive forward. The performance of any difficult task is impaired when arousal is too high. Yet, the consequences aren’t limited to just work performance, they can destroy lives.

When a task is a straightforward one, that requires endurance and persistence to complete, high levels of arousal will improve performance. However, as tasks become more intellectually challenging, rather than arousal its intense concentration that is required.

Slowing down the mind is a skill. Yet, we rarely hear of it. It’s not part of the legends that are shared about this country’s revered sporting heroes.

When Kieran Perkins qualified last in the final of the 1500m freestyle at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the Australian media wrote off Australia ‘superfish’. In what would prove to be a classic ‘where were you when’ moment, Perkins’s triumph became part of our rich Olympic history. It came to stand for the Australian tradition of success in the face of adversity, part of our reputation as a people who never give up.

Grant Hackett carried on this legacy in Olympic swimming’s longest event. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Hackett beat Perkins whilst battling a glandular fever. He repeated this effort four years later in Athens, defending his Olympic title with a collapsed lung. The video of Hackett touching the wall, turning to his coach with tears in his eyes and beating his chest above his heart is still shown to demonstrate what it takes to be a champion. The image of Hackett climbing out of the pool with his legs shaking, so exhausted he almost can’t make it onto the blocks, is one we hold up as that of a champion.

Hackett and Perkins are two of the most successful Australian Olympians we have ever produced. Yet their inability to control their levels of arousal eventually saw them fall victim to the two problems that arise because of poor arousal management:

Fatigue that limits their ability to access the depths of their talent and skill
Poor personal relationships.
Perkins won gold in the 1500m in Atlanta but the event he wanted to win was the 400m after finishing second in Barcelona (1992). Perkins swan so poorly at the selection trials he didn’t qualify for the Games. Years later Perkins revealed in candid interviews that in the months leading up to the Olympics his body started to shut down. He had a succession of viruses and was unable to train as the stress to perform and the break-up of his relationship with Symantha Liu took its toll. His mindset was so negative that, he said, “with 300m to swim I decided I did not want to make the final”.

At the end of his career, Hackett was charged with domestic violence — the result of a long period of deteriorating arousal management. Facing the prospect of creating an Olympic first and becoming the three-time defending Olympic champion in 2008, Hackett couldn’t sleep due to his nerves. He was given Stilnox, a sleeping pill that he quickly became addicted to. After several bad reactions and a number of incidences of sleepwalking, the team doctor banned Hackett from using Stilnox before the final.

Hackett hardly slept the night before the final. He swam 2.4 seconds slower in the final than he had in the heat the day before, touching the wall 0.69 seconds behind Tunisia’s Oussama Mellouli. His coach attributed his second-place finish to a bad night’s sleep. It was the only thing that stood between Hackett and Olympic history. When Hackett was charged with domestic violence a few years later, he cited his inability to sleep for more than 45 minutes at a time as a reason for his violent behaviour.

Sleep helps us regulate our arousal. When we are unable to do this, our performance suffers and so too, in some cases, do our lives. When we run on a sleep deficit, we are putting more on the line than we might realise.