Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Outsmarting Stress
From Newsweek Magazine: Fear can make you stupid. That’s a big problem when it’s a test that scares you. To help students cope, some high schools have begun teaching relaxation techniques that range from yoga to computerized biofeedback. The first time he took the SAT as a high schooler in Stoughton, Mass., Nayan Patel froze on the math section. He tried again a month later with no further studybut first he took the HeartMath course, an anxiety-reduction system now used in some 200 schools. He spent several weeks learning to conjure soothing mental images and control his heart rate, aided by special videogames that encourage players to calm down. Patel’s math score jumped 170 points. The U.S. Department of Education is funding a $1 million evaluation of the technique.