Stress and my Chess rating !
Correlation does not imply causation, yes certainly but I noticed that during the time when I was stressed my chess ratings went down drastically. Studies have found that ,- a decrease in mean heart rate variability with no changes in HF throughout the the game of chess is seen. The results suggested a stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system with no changes in the parasympathetic system. I have not measured my heart rate variability but certainly during my stressful days of defending my thesis, my HRV should have reduced. The dip during the period of 20 september to 08 october is not surprising as I had my defense on 2 october ! Now, we have open questions like how long the stress remains and when does the recovery starts?