A highly stressful situation, such as public speaking for the novice, or going for an important job interview, can lead to so much anxiety, that it impedes your performance – leaving you stuttering and stammering and unable to think clearly.

However, instead of succumbing to anxiety in a stressful situation, by using the right techniques you can actually “trick” your brain’s response to pressure, in order to change from feeling “anxious” to rather feeling “excited”, and to view the situation from being a “threat” to rather seeing it as a “challenge”. 

In a recently (June 2016) published book “The Stress Test: How pressure can make you stronger and sharper”, Prof Ian Robertson reveals how we can shape our brain’s response to stressful situations.

According to Prof Robertson there are techniques we can learn in order to change our approach to stress.

In a nutshell, his “four-step brain hack to harness stress” comes into effect when you are faced with a stressful situation and experience anxiety.

The first step is to say out loud “I feel excited” and that tricks your brain.

The second step is to breathe in slowly through the nose for five seconds and then exhale for six seconds.

The third step is to pose like a superhero, standing up tall and puffing out your chest.  (This pose has been found to boost testosterone levels in both men and woman.)

The fourth step is to squeeze your right hand shut for 45 seconds, open for 15 seconds and the shut it again.  Squeezing the right hand increases activity in the left side of the brain.

By channeling stress into positive energy, the brain is “tricked” into dealing with “fight or flight” hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, before they can cause problems.

 

Prof Robertson is chair of psychology at Trinity College Dublin and founder of the University’s Institute of Neuroscience.

 

 

 

 

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