Be mindful and manage your exam stress
Alittle stress around exam time can be a good thing, as it motivates you to put in the work. But sometimes stress levels can get out of hand, particularly at the end of an academic year.
When you become stressed, the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system gets switched on. Initially this is a good thing, because it is the activation of this system that releases the neurochemical adrenaline — and this stimulates you to get going and focus on your work. But the problem starts when periods of stress become prolonged.
When this happens, the sympathetic branch stays permanently on, pouring adrenaline into the body and keeping you on high alert. This causes you to worry more, experience anxiety and depression, lose sleep, become forgetful, irritable, overwhelmed, exhausted and feel out of control. This can impact your ability to prepare for your assignments and exams, as well as negatively affect levels of performance and sense of well-being.
A simple and very practical step would be to develop a plan of action by preparing well and organising your time and workload. This will help address that “out-of-control feeling”. A second step is to begin to understand the physiological responses going on in your body and try to adjust them.
As its name suggests, the automatic nervous system is not under your direct control. But you can learn techniques to help you manage how you are feeling and to relax or calm down. If you can do this, then the second branch of the automatic nervous system, the parasympathetic
Thoughts are frequently negative harbingers of failure and fear. Once you are aware of this, you can learn to adjust negative thinking into a more positive stance
branch, can switch on.
Breathing techniques offer a quick and effective method. They are easy to learn and can be practised any time, any place, anywhere – because your breath is always with you. The trick is to learn to breathe deeply by drawing your breath down into the abdomen. This stops shallow breathing which is linked to stress and panicking.
Mindfulness is a more advanced technique, focused on being fully present in the moment and experiencing what is going in and on around you as that moment unfolds. When you learn how to do this, you find you are able to focus your attention on the task at hand — in this case your assignments or exams. Mindfulness also helps you to practise feeling calm in the mind and the body by releasing those neurochemicals that switch on the parasympathetic branch of the automatic nervous system.
Studies have shown this can actually enhance your performance and sense of well-being. Pay attention to how you feel before the practice and after you practice. This will help you to decide whether it’s an effective tool for you.
A real positive of all these techniques is that they teach you to be aware of what you are actually thinking at any one time. Thoughts are frequently negative harbingers of failure and fear. Once you are aware of this, you can learn to adjust negative thinking into a more positive stance or to let them flow over you rather than control you.
Balancing how you spend your time is also important. You also need to try and balance your drive for performance in your exams and assignments with doing things that are personally meaningful to you in your life. This is important, as research has shown that this is essential to your health and well-being. And it will also help you to feel more balanced and calm during those exams and in the run up to results day.