Mental & Emotional Health

Do tests stress you out?
Do your palms get sweaty at the thought of buying a blue book? Does the requirement of a #2 pencil make your heart race? Will the mere mention of an exam make your blood pressure rise?
If so, read on; I’ve found some really great tips from the Kansas State University Counseling Services about overcoming text anxiety! I actuallyrecommend reading the entire article, but for those of you in too much of a hurry, at least read some of the destressing techniques they suggest and I copied & pasted here. : ) KSU recommends doing these often so that you can build up the strength of your relaxation response when you do these things before an exam.

TECHNIQUE #1
* Briefly tense your entire body by tensing and holding muscles.
* Raise your toes and hold while tensing your legs, tense your buttocks, clench your fists.
* Take a deep breath and hold it while clenching your teeth and closing your eyes tight.
* Hold them all tense for a few seconds. Then, let go all at once and enjoy that letting go feeling.

TECHNIQUE #2
* With your eyes closed, shift your attention to the tip of your nose.
* As you breathe in, become aware of the air coming into your nostrils.
* As you breathe out, be aware of the sensations of the air passing back out.
* Notice that the air coming in tends to be cooler, and the air breathed out is warmer.
Cool air in, warm air out. Focusing on a physiological process (air in and out) can help calm our mental activity. It helps you let go of thoughts that stress you.

TECHNIQUE #3
* While seated, raise your shoulders up, back, and down; up. back, and down. Roll your shoulders this way three or four times.
* Then, slowly twist in your seat. Look over your right shoulder and twist your body so you feel some stretch in the lower back. Do your twisting as you exhale. Breathe in. Then twist to your left and feel the good stretch in your lower back as you exhale.
We tend to get tense in our upper and lower back when we sit for a long time, usually bent over a desk. Rolling shoulders and twisting relieve that extra tension.

TECHNIQUE #4
* Take a deep breath.
* As you slowly let it out, let your jaw and shoulders relax, and relax the grip on your pen.

Then they “please note that “when you sit for long periods of time, gravity tends to draw your blood into the lower parts of your body so less oxygen is fed to your brain.

To get the blood carrying more oxygen to your brain, get up and walk around for 30 seconds or so. The calves of your legs act as pumps and get the blood flowing again.

While walking, roll your shoulders and stretch other parts of your body.”