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Unknown
So.
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Unknown
We.
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Unknown
Hi, I'm Tina Wiles with the Assessment Alchemist podcast, and today we are going to be talking about, the fight or flight response. So today's episode is the brain science behind test anxiety. Why do you freeze blank and overthink? And I just have a give a shout out to my team. But there's my Chris Webber basketball, my Michigan because today we made it to the Final Four for March Madness.
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Unknown
So All right. So anyway, now let's get back to the actual topic. The brain science behind test anxiety. So before I begin, we are going to do a little exercise together. So I'm going to set my timer here. And for 15 seconds, I want you to take fast, shallow breaths. Okay. Ready? Go.
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Unknown
15 seconds. Okay. Woo! Now, how do you feel? Do you feel anxious? Difficult. Focusing. Lightheaded. Right. These are all things that you can feel when your fight or flight of response is. Is going. And why I want to do this is because to put us back into what it feels like when you have that panic going on during a test, right?
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Unknown
Like my heart rate increased, right? Like you can feel the anxiety from just doing that simple exercise. Okay. So this happens during a test, but you don't see it coming, right? Like it's not like we just artificially created a fight or flight response. Right? Like we you don't know. You're just going through the test and doing your thing, right?
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Unknown
So, here's what's actually going on in your brain. So we have, in our nervous system. Okay. There is the autonomic nervous system. And that is stuff that happens without us thinking about it. Right. And that's actually broken into two branches. So the parasympathetic part of our autonomic nervous system is called rest and digest. So it is like we breathe and like we don't need to tell our body we ate.
00:02:57:04 - 00:03:21:19
Unknown
Please digest the food right. Or hey reminder breathe reminder. Breathe okay. Blink right. Like those. That's autonomic right. Like we don't need to think about it. So that's the parasympathetic part of the nervous system. The sympathetic part of the nervous system is actually what controls our fight or flight response okay. And a part of the problem, is like yes.
00:03:21:19 - 00:03:48:04
Unknown
So grateful. Please fight or flight response is the whole purpose is to protect us. Okay. The problem is, is that all our bodies were designed when we might have bears or saber tooth tigers chasing us. Right. And when you're sitting there taking a test that is not going on, but our body is acting like it is, our body is literally trying to save our lives.
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Unknown
And so of it triggers the sympathetic nervous system. Okay. And what that does is it actually floods our body with cortisol and adrenal lion. And it's like an alarm system, right? It's meant to protect us. And when the cortisol and adrenaline starts going, what happens is our frontal lobe. Right? So the front part of our brain is where we make decisions, where we focus, where, like if, when you're taking a test, your recall of the information that you studied is all there.
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Unknown
And our prefrontal cortex. But when our it's, when our fight or flight system is activated, you cannot recall information. Right? So it might that hack actually has, the you could have physical symptoms. So, like an upset stomach or, like, butterflies in your stomach, sweaty palms. Okay. Those are physical symptoms. You might actually your heartbeat might increase.
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Unknown
You might have shortness of breath. Okay. It can also affect us emotionally. Okay. So the, we might fear, we might feel fear or stress or helpless or, like, stuck on questions when you're going through a test, like, can't decide between answers. Start to panic about timing, right? There's like, so many things that can happen emotionally.
00:05:32:26 - 00:05:59:29
Unknown
Your mind goes completely blank. I hear that all the time. Like, I open my test and I just can't remember anything that I studied. And then you can also have, cognitive and behavioral systems or symptoms. So things like, ProQuest and Asian like a lot of times we think that procrastinating studying because you have a test coming up is because you're just putting off the test where it actually might be.
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Unknown
The fight or flight response is actually keeping you from studying, right? Like it can cause the procrastination instead of being the result. It could be both, but it could either way. It could be difficulty concentrating as you're going through. Like losing focus and, like when you're like, any one of these can be rough, but when you're going through a test and you're trying to especially like high stakes exams, like the act sat like ts, like, and clacks.
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Unknown
Right? All these, whether you're a professional or a high school student. Right. Like these exams where you're, you're you have the pressure added to what's already going on with our fight or flight, like our, our bodies. Right. So, willpower doesn't fix it. Just saying. Okay, I need to focus, or I lost my focus, or I've got this right.
00:07:04:11 - 00:07:30:01
Unknown
Like, positive thinking like, those can help, but it's not going to fix toning down the fight or flight response of our body. But there are a couple things we can do. So, the vagus nerve is the longest nerve of our body. And I remember, I, I think it's like a 100 million nerve cells in our stomach and gut.
00:07:30:04 - 00:07:58:24
Unknown
We connect to the vagus nerve and relay information back up to our brain. It, like I said, it's the longest. And activating the vagus nerve is the fastest way to let our body know. Hey, we're safe. Thank you for protecting me. But you can tone down the fight or flight response, because I actually need to recall information that I know.
00:07:58:26 - 00:08:20:07
Unknown
So please. Thank you, body, but please allow me to do what I need to do. So I'm going to share with you three super simple ways to, activate that vagus nerve during a test. Okay, so the first one is breathing through your nose. Okay. We're going to take a deep breath, and I want you to do this with me.
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Unknown
So we're going to inhale and exhale through our nose. But I want you to focus on the temperature and then I'll ask about it okay. So inhale through your nose.
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Unknown
Exhale through your nose. Okay. We'll do it one more time. Focus on the temperature.
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Unknown
Okay. When you inhale, the air should feel cooler than it does when you exhale. That's sometimes when you exhale, you might not even feel the temperature because it's the temperature of our body. So you're going to inhale and then exhale one more time to see if you notice it. Now that I told you what the difference is.
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Unknown
Okay. So the deep breath acts or like serves a couple purposes. So inhaling and exhaling through your nose like that actually will flood your body. It activates the the vagus nerve because taking a deep breath stimulates the nerve. It also is going to flood your body with oxygen, which is a good thing and helps counteract some of the effects of the adrenaline and cortisol that are coursing through your body.
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Unknown
And the last thing that it will do is actually it's a mindfulness thing during meditation all the time, where it'll bring you into the present moment. Okay. So actually it's probably the best thing that you could do because it does all three at the same time. The next thing that we're going to talk about is something that I've borrowed from something called Emotional Freedom Technique, which is tapping, and what it is, is that we actually have on the side of your hand.
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Unknown
So on the pinky side and the side of your palm, you can tap right there. It's actually an acupressure point. Okay. And it sends a signal to the vagus nerve that I am. I'm safe. I'm fine. Okay. I can't do this. If I'm in a situation where my life is in danger. Right? I'm fine. So, you get bonus points if, while you're tapping, you take a deep breath.
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Unknown
Or you could even say to yourself, think clearly step by step.
00:10:39:22 - 00:11:06:07
Unknown
Think clearly. Step by step. Okay, so that is the second way to, to quickly activate the vagus nerve. And the third way actually involves stimulating the vagus nerve directly. Okay. So if you hold your hands like you don't need to do both at the same time, but like a V and then put them behind around your ear.
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Unknown
So the vagus nerve is actually connected right behind our ear. So if you do some gentle massage right there.
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Unknown
You're actually stimulating that nerve directly. And will help tone down the fight or flight response. Okay. So the takeaway of all of this is that, at test anxiety and that feeling of, that like, why you freeze and blank and overthink is not your fault, okay? It's not your fault in studying more or being a perfect student or.
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Unknown
Right. Like all these reasons that you might be telling yourself that you're struggling actually is not the reason. Okay. When we're having a physiological symptom, we need a physiological effects. And studying more is not going to help you tone down that fight or flight response when you're taking the test. Okay. So, like taking that deep breath, tapping, rubbing behind your ears is going to help tone down the response and let you recall the information that you know from the studying and the work that you've done.
00:12:36:13 - 00:13:04:13
Unknown
Okay. It's a skill, and skills can be taught and you could do better on the test. You can relax more and yeah. And obviously passing that test or getting the score that you want, will help everything. All right. So I hope that helps. Check out my tutor.com. That's m y the number 2TO arcom to access the quiz.
00:13:04:13 - 00:13:26:04
Unknown
That can help you like a two minute quiz that can help give you some more insight into the type of test taker that you are. And some things that you can do, to help with issues that you might feel during the exam. So thank you so much for joining me on this episode of the Assessment Alchemist Podcast, and I'll see you next week.
