Are you or your child experiencing exam stress? It’s a common issue and can hurt performance.
In this precise artile, we will discuss a simple technique that can help reduce exam stress for parents and students.
Understanding Stress: Stress is the body’s natural response to perceived danger or threat, releasing adrenaline and cortisol. As a result, the brain is using its abilities to handle the perceived threat, compromising the ability to focus, digest, and perform the immune function.
Exam Stress and its Impact: For students with exam fear, this can lead to an inability to concentrate, crying, difficulty sleeping, going blank during exams, and forgetting things they know to write. Parents may also worry about their child’s preparation and how much stress affects them.
Activating the Relaxation System: The solution is to use the body’s natural relaxation system, which can be activated with a simple technique: sighing. Sighing activates the parasympathetic nervous system, a part of our body’s relaxation mechanism.
The 3-5 Breathing Technique: Sighing involves deliberate and controlled breath that involves inhaling faster and exhaling slower and is also called 3-5 breathing, where you inhale to the count of 3 and exhale to the count of 5. You can breathe normally; there’s no need to hold your breath. Just focus on inhaling faster and exhaling slower.
How to practice 3-5 breathing: Try it out now for one minute. Focus on your breath and breathe into your stomach for even better results. Instead of your chest inflating, your stomach inflates, just as newborn babies breathe. That can be very effective in reducing stress.
Make it a Habit: Make this a part of your daily routine by setting a reminder on your phone. Encourage your child to practice this technique daily, especially before exams. It will help them feel calmer and clear-headed and improve their recall of various topics.
We hope this technique helps you and your child reduce exam stress. Let us know how it goes and if you have any questions.
Until next time, take care of yourself and help your child feel calmer.
Best regards,
Ninad