Your palms start to sweat, maybe you feel dizzy, your heart rate rises. Sympathetic response much?
Anxiety is a very important feeling; it lets us know when we should be worried or scared, but it could stop you in your tracks on the big day. The good news is B&B dental offers the perfect opportunity to practice dealing with the stress of exam day. First read the post about leaving No Stone Unturned to make sure you have a rock-solid routine. But when you hit that mid-exam panic here are a couple strategies you can try to keep test anxiety from getting in your way:
- Close your eyes and meditate: take yourself to a calm, familiar place
- Positive Self-Talk
- Regain control of your thoughts
- Reframe what is happening as a positive challenge
- Small Micro-distractions
- Think of a song
- Draw a quick picture
- Ground yourself in your senses
- Listen to what’s around you
- Feel yourself in the chair and on the ground
- Think about your sense of smell and breath
- Belly breathe
- When you breathe make sure that it is slow and deep
- Ensure that your belly expands more than your shoulders rise
- Take at least 5-10 slow deep breaths
- Stretch during breaks
- Don’t stay seated; develop an easy quick stretch routine to calm you down
- Take the bathroom break
- You can take a bathroom break to clear your mind even if you don’t need to use the restroom. The walk and change of scenery may help ground you
- Body scan
- Pretend there is a little ball of energy that runs down and checks in on the major parts of your body
- It should run down both of your legs to your toes and all the way to your fingers
- This can be a useful grounding technique
Remember you’ve practiced, you’ve done the work, you’re ready to dominate.
Written by Dr. Kerri Lyons