Nervousness

 Nervousness

 

 

 

Everyone at one point in their life has felt nervousness, but do not worry! Being nervous is completely normal; you can get nervous during an important exam or when speaking to a group of people, but have you ever wondered why we get nervous? Is there a specific reason? Does something happen in our body? As it turns out, this feeling is the result of a scientific reaction that takes place in a stressful situation during stressful moments.

Your brain sends a signal from the pituitary gland all the way to your kidney. This is when you are going to start feeling the butterflies in your stomach due to adrenaline being created. The part of the brain that is responsible for nervousness is called the Hypothalamus. The situation that is making you nervous is considered not to be normal by the brain, which is why it triggers the Hypothalamus to release the adrenaline into the bloodstream. The adrenaline causes the blood pressure and your heart rate to increase; this is what is called the fight/flight moments. You can combat nervousness by taking deep breaths and, at the same time, thinking of the situation as being normal. This sends signals to your brain, and it perceives the situation as normal and stops the Hypothalamus from releasing adrenaline into your blood stream, resulting in calm you down.

The adrenaline causes a redirection of blood to the heart and, in doing so, drives the blood away from your digestive system, which causes a funning tingling sensation. There are many different degrees of this feeling; the outcome of the situation while going to school without homework might not be as stressful as failing an exam.

 

Focus

A lack of focus and a lack of ability is one of the best ways to waste a lot of the time you dedicate to studying. That is because when you are pulled away from your main task into a distraction, you are not just wasting the time that it takes to get that distraction done with. There is also some called ‘cognitive switching penalty, you have to constantly switch the focus of your attention; you are forcing your brain to spend more time and effort thrashing, loading, and reloading contexts over and over again. That is why it is possible to spend an entire day doing a task and getting nothing done in the end. There are a lot of tips and even applications on the internet, help you in improving your focus.

The relation of focus with preparation is very much obvious. The more you focus, the more you prepare. A good preparation leads to considerable practice, and eventually, more practice results in more confidence. Being confident can of course, make you less nervous.

 

Symptoms of Nervousness

It is not compulsory that each of these symptoms might be present in each one of you;

 

Difficulty in concentration:

There are a couple of reasons for difficulty in concentration; the first is that anxiety might lead to a decrease in concentration. It is just because when you are really struggling with anxiety, you are typically spending a whole lot of your time either thinking about what has happened in the past, what you have done in the past or what you have said in the past, but you wish you would have done or said differently. You are worried about something in the future, either something that is going to go wrong or a fear about the future or some level of catastrophic thinking about the future and so basically, because you are worrying so much about these two things, it is very tough to concentrate and focus on what is going on in the present moment. So, a task that otherwise would be potentially easy to deal with becomes insurmountable. You really cannot just stay focused and present enough to deal with them because of the level of anxiety you are experiencing.

 

Flight of flight:

When you are anxious, your body is reacting as well as your brain, and one of the things that can happen is your body can respond as if it is actually in danger. What this does is it sends you into fight or flight. An animal that is being cornered and is in danger will either try to fight or they will try to run away. Humans do the same thing. What happens is that when your body is preparing for this, your brain goes offline. All of the resources that are usually available for you in a task become unavailable as you are getting ready to deal with this danger.

 

How to get nervousness under control?

Reaching out and having a consultation with a licensed professional who can look at the signs and symptoms that you are struggling with. Get help in developing a plan to address these so that you can lead a fuller and healthier life.

The concept of Mental Imagery is a widely used method in popular sports. With cognitive specific imagery, athletes imagine themselves as practicing a technique or skill and competing for the game; this practice is known as Mental Imagery. It stimulates the relative neurons in the brain and has been shown to enhance and improve the specific skill.

Motivational specific imagery, on the other hand, encourages athletes to recall the feeling of winning an event or beating a competitor as a motivational tool.

Motivational General Mastery is usually used by athletes to feel more confident. Now, by simply imagining themselves as focused, tough, and having positive thoughts prior to competing, athletes are able to improve performance and overcome nerves.

Confidence, in particular, is a factor that points out successful athletes from others and a main focus for professional coaches. So, next time you feel those nerves come in, try preparing as an Olympian would!