Science Explained: nerves and how to beat them

So, you’ve made it into university. You muddled through the baffling UCAS application and secured your place at Warwick. A-Levels? Completed it mate. But now that you’re on your way to campus you’re probably worried about something, whether that be making new friends, succeeding on your course or even that your accent will somehow be both too ‘posh’ and too ‘common’ at the same time.

In most cases, nerves are a completely normally psychological response to new or uncertain situations. Some think they originate from ancient times, when humans hunted for food and their ‘fight or flight’ response would be crucial to their survival. Nowadays, a new experience such as starting university isn’t going to be life-threating, but our brain is still hard-wired to think we might be in real danger.

A new experience such as starting university isn’t going to be life-threating, but our brain is still hard-wired to think we might be in real danger…

During this response, our adrenal glands release adrenaline, which causes all sorts of reactions in our body aimed at improving our survival. While dilated pupils, a pounding heart and increased sweat production might not seem helpful when you’re trying to make a good first impression in halls, these improve your vision, increase oxygen flow, and keep you cool in case you need to run. Ideal when you need to escape from a predator, not so ideal when you’re just trying to make it to your nine am seminar.

But never fear, SciTech is here with some scientifically proven ways to reduce the ‘fight or flight’ response and make those inevitable fresher nerves more bearable.

Try to control your breathing

Controlling your breathing is a great way to help you start thinking straight. Deep diaphragmatic breathing especially helps because it activates the body’s relaxation response. This allows the body to go from the ‘fight or flight’ response of the sympathetic nervous system to the relaxed response of the parasympathetic nervous system. It might not be a problem solver in itself, but it’s hugely important in getting you calm enough to start solving whatever issues you’re facing.

Exercise

Exercising is another fantastic way to help keep your stress levels down. Going for a run, hitting up the gym or even a long walk around campus are all good for keeping you happy and motivated. Research by the Mayo Clinic indicates exercise releases brain chemicals such as endorphins which are associated with easing depression. It also enhances your immune system and increases body temperature, which surprisingly helps people to calm down. It’s also a great way to stay fit and healthy, and campus has its very own sports facilities, so there’s really no excuse not to!

Put yourself out there

It might seem fairly obvious but friendship and social interaction are a huge help in reducing and managing your stress levels. Essentially by spending time with people and having fun, chemicals are released in your brain that are very similar to those from exercise. These help ease depression and generally make you feel ‘good.’ This is almost always positive and has been called “friendfluence.” The importance of this cannot be overstated: over three decades of studies indicate that friendship is an evolutionary advantage in the human species.

While ironically this might be one of the things you’re most apprehensive about when you come to Warwick, once you’ve taken the leap, science says the next interaction will be a lot easier! So, make sure you introduce yourself to everyone you meet- it’s a terrifying prospect, but everyone else is in the same boat as you.

Try exposure therapy

Slow exposure to something you’re scared of, such as an essay or worksheet, can actually help in combatting your fear of doing it. Based on the principles of exposure therapy, Katherina K. Hauner argues that slowly approaching a daunting task one step (or paragraph, sentence, question) at a time can eventually stop a fear reaction triggering in your brain. She would know, she’s a postdoctoral fellow in neurology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and deals with phobias every day. It might feel like slow work, but gradually exposing yourself to things that make you nervous it can really help you overcome your fear.

Teach yourself mindfulness

Finally, teaching yourself mindfulness is incredibly easy to do, and there’s about a million or so books, courses and YouTube guides on how to do it. Mindfulness teaches you to focus on the present, the idea being to forget about things that are worrying you in the future by devoting your entire attention to a current moment.

A good way to try it out is by eating a piece of chocolate (stay with me here). Spend some time looking at it; feel it in your hands, give it a smell before chomping it down. Focus on the experience, and how you feel before and after. While you might not want to try this for the first time in public, (you may get some funny looks) this is a great way of training yourself to focus on your body in the present. Many find that this helps to alleviate any nerves or stress that they’re experiencing and use the technique in their day to day lives. Not only this, but scientific studies show that over time the brain activation that mindfulness and meditation can induce also has the potential to increase brain activity, empathy and be used in the treatment of numerous mental illnesses.

Many find that this helps to alleviate any nerves or stress that they’re experiencing…

University can seem pretty intense at times, but as someone who’s made it through two years already, I can testify that it is doable. Managing your nerves are so important to make the most of all the opportunities here at Warwick, and hopefully you’ll have a better understanding of how to do that now.