Anxiety

Anxiety is a normal bodily reaction towards something that our brain perceives as dangerous or threatening to us. Despite how it may feel at times, anxiety can be a valuable ‘tool’ because it acts as a sensor that tells us that something is happening that we need to pay attention to. We want to feel anxious about the upcoming midterm or presentation because it is a prompt for us to perhaps begin preparing for it because it is important to us. This is an example of healthy and productive response to anxiety. However there may be times when anxiety becomes too much to the point where it begins to interfere with or when we need to do something important. A specific form of anxiety known as test anxiety is a common occurrence in university students. Many students can experience test anxiety where they might ‘freeze up’ or panic during a high pressure situation like an exam or even a presentation.

Resources

The resources below include articles, videos and practical suggestions, to find a format that works best for you:

Read:

Watch:

Fight or Flight explained

How to cope with anxiety

Do/Practice

Strategies for Anxiety

Deep (Calm) Breathing

When we are anxious, often our breathing rate also becomes irregular. To re-regulate our nervous system, we can manually take control of our breathing. Try inhaling for two seconds, holding for one second and then exhaling for another two seconds. Continue and repeat until you notice your heart rate begins to slow down. You can use this handy visualization tool to help you engage in this strategy.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

When we get anxious, certain body parts begin to tense up which reinforce the anxiety that we are feeling. Sometimes we don’t even realize we are tensing a body. This exercise allows us to systematically go through our entire body to identify tension and release through relaxing the muscles.

Grounding – 333 Rule

When we are anxious we are often stuck in our thoughts and feelings and losing contact with the present moment. This is particularly problematic when we need to focus on something right in front of us like during an exam. The 333 rule involves looking around your current environment and naming 3 things involving your 5 senses:

Name 3 things that you can see
Name 3 things you can hear
Name 3 things you can touch
Name 3 things you can taste
Name 3 things that you can smell