Graphic by Dana Davenport
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2016 issue of SELF. For more from the July/August issue, subscribe to SELF and download the digital edition. This full issue is now available on national newsstands.
You've spent months training for a 10K, and it's finally race day. Or you're about to walk into a conference room to deliver a big presentation. Then a familiar feeling kicks in, seemingly out of nowhere: Your heart is pounding out of your chest, your stomach is doing somersaults, and your palms are sweating. You're nervous, but it's go time. How will you handle those uncomfortable sensations? When it comes to succeeding—on a racecourse, onstage, in an interview—managing the rush of adrenaline that comes with stress can be just as crucial as the right gear or training plan.
Anyone whose predate jitters ended with too much rosé—or who has shaken like a leaf giving a wedding toast—knows the power of mind over, well, everything. "There's a direct connection between emotions and thoughts," says clinical sports psychologist John Sullivan, coauthor of The Brain Always Wins: Developing Successful Brain Management. "We feel first, then we act."
The biological chain reaction that occurs when the stakes are high starts with those feelings of apprehension and excitement. When you get information (like seeing a starting line), it goes straight to your amygdala—the part of your brain that helps control your emotions. If you're in a high-pressure situation, your initial feeling is often one of anxiety. Your amygdala sends a "danger, danger" signal to your hypothalamus, which then prompts your adrenal glands to release a surge of hormones, including cortisol and adrenaline. They crank up your heart rate and blood pressure while increasing glucose levels to help your blood carry more fuel to your muscles.
In a fight-or-flight situation, that extra oomph could save your life. But before an important meeting? It just makes you freak out. "Your body responds to the fear of every situation as if you were under physical attack," says sports psychologist Jonathan Fader, Ph.D., author of Life as Sport: What Top Athletes Can Teach You About How to Win in Life. "The sympathetic nervous system is like a smoke alarm, and it goes off if there's the slightest hint of a fire." Most of us call that intense cascade of feelings an adrenaline rush, but sports psychologists tend to refer to it as pre-competition anxiety.
Here's the good news: That pre-competition anxiety is not necessarily a bad thing.
Elite athletes know how to harness the power of those jitters to create a positive outcome—and you can, too. Pinpointing your personal place where the magic happens will help you perform at your best on a sports field, at work, and beyond.
"We've found that athletes do well when they're experiencing a combination of negative and positive feelings," says Jack Raglin, Ph.D., professor of kinesiology at Indiana University in Bloomington. "For some people, a state of near-total relaxation is ideal, but for others it will lead to a poor performance."
When your anxiety level is low (think Netflix marathon on a Sunday afternoon), you're pretty much the opposite of primed to sprint through a finish line or ask your boss for a raise. But a case of nerves can give you the boost you need to excel in those types of situations. The trouble usually lies on the far end of the spectrum: "Being 'up' for an interview is a good thing, but too big a physical response—palpitations, sweating, trembling—is distracting and not helpful," says Brian B. Hoffman, M.D., professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and author of Adrenaline.
That too-pumped feeling is all too familiar for many of us. "I had a full-blown anxiety attack the night before one of my first trials," remembers Jessie Fox, a 31-year-old attorney in Kansas City, Missouri. "The next morning I was still so nervous that I almost forgot the name of my only witness, who was also my client! My hands were shaking while I was questioning him."
So how do you avoid those moments and find that perfect point between feeling flat and paralyzed by nerves? It depends on who you are and what you're doing. "Research shows that 25 to 40 percent of athletes excel with high anxiety, while the remainder perform best at low to moderate levels," says Raglin. "It truly depends on the person." Everyone's Goldilocks spot is different—even among people of the same experience level. "And there are no psychological or physiological differences between the ideal anxiety levels of men and women."
Your personal range of peak anxiety is called an individual zone of optimal functioning (IZOF)—and we're all unique.
"Before an important presentation, I feel a little nervous and have butterflies in my stomach—that's how I know I'm in the zone," says Jacqueline De Berry, a 28-year-old publicist in New York City. Others do better with a stronger rush. "I can feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins a couple days before a race," says Stefanie LaHart, a 45-year-old digital marketing director in Los Angeles who has completed 10 marathons. "I'm so amped up that I could go at any second if that starting gun went off."
Despite the variance of everyone's IZOF, it's surprisingly easy to figure out your own happy place: After you finish an event, write down the outcome (kicked ass, so-so or totally bombed). Rate your anxiety level on a scale of 1 (cool as a cucumber) to 10 (a hot mess) and jot down your mood during the event. Look at how pumped or relaxed you were at your most successful moments—then aim to repeat it in the future.
Putting in your best effort on a big day actually begins way before you get to the starting line. So bank on those healthy habits.
The primary components are nutrition, hydration, and sleep. "What you eat and drink affects your mood and energy," says Alissa Rumsey, R.D., a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. "Anxiety increases when you don't get enough calories or are even slightly dehydrated."
One dietary mistake even top athletes make: piling on the protein. Complex carbs are actually your friend when you're jittery. "They stimulate the production of serotonin, which helps with memory, mood, and coordination," says Sullivan. "When you're lacking carbs, that hormone isn't stimulated and you feel more nervous." To fend off dehydration, aim to drink eight to 10 cups of water daily, Rumsey says.
Rest is also important. "When I'm sleep-deprived, I feel more on edge and overwhelmed," says Amy Patwa, M.D., 34, an emergency medicine physician at Morristown Medical Center in Morristown, New Jersey. The mood shift may be due to sleep's effect on hormones. "Levels of testosterone are related to speed, decisions, and performance. And they're significantly lower in athletes who sleep less than seven hours a night," says Sullivan. His Rx: Aim for at least that much three nights before your event, adding 30 to 60 minutes more over the next two consecutive nights.
Thrive under pressure by finding your anxiety sweet spot.
You're well-rested, fed, and hydrated. You're about to start a race or step onstage, and you want to knock it out of the park. First, assess your anxiety level. "Heart rate is a good indicator of over- or underarousal," says Fader. "But how you feel is the easiest cue—you know when you're too calm or too jittery to perform well." Revving up, or increasing arousal, is pretty easy: Do a few jumping jacks, or whatever gets your blood pumping. Need to take things down a notch (or 20)? Inhale deeply. Research shows that it can significantly calm you down. "It's the easiest way to regulate what's happening in your nervous system," Fader says.
Music can also help you hit your sweet spot—if you're strategic. "The brain's arousal mechanisms respond better when you're calmer," says Sullivan. So while conventional wisdom may say to crank up Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" before you walk into a big meeting, science actually suggests it's smarter to play slower-paced tunes.
And relabel those jitters.
Sometimes, no matter how perfectly prepped you are, something happens—say, you're rattled by an unexpected question in a big meeting, or you start to doubt your ability to finish strong in an athletic event—that puts your body into panic mode. "At mile 13 of the 2011 Marine Corps Marathon, I kept thinking, I'm only halfway there, there's no way I can do this," says LaHart. "I cried for the last 10 miles of that race. It was miserable."
LaHart's experience isn't uncommon. "If you're panicked and you think, Uh-oh, I need to get out of here, that ramps up how uncomfortable you feel and affects everything you do," says Fader. "But if you tell yourself, 'This feeling is normal and I'm prepared for this,' you'll calm down."
Indeed, athletes swear by self talk. "When I tell myself, 'You've done all the work, you just need to execute it,' I relax and focus," says Greta Daniels, 33, a cyclist in Pittsburgh. World-renowned climber Steph Davis has a similar strategy. "When I'm scared, I keep repeating, 'This is exciting,' " says the 42-year-old. "It renames what I'm feeling and lightens things up." The bottom line: "Your inner dialogue can talk you into or out of anything," says Deena Kastor, 43, a long-distance runner and Olympic bronze medalist who is adept at reframing the stomach butterflies she still gets before every competition.
It's also helpful to remember that your adrenaline is surging because the stakes are high—and that's because you care about whatever it is you're trying to do. Instead of dreading the uneasiness, consider it a friendly reminder from your body that you're doing something extraordinary. "You feel anxious when it's time to do something important," says Fader. "The feeling is there for a reason."
That rings true for Emily Henry, a 25-year-old novelist in Cincinnati. In the days before traveling to a writing workshop last year, she was so nervous that she contemplated not going—but she still made it. "Afterward, I realized that every time I've done anything life-changing, I've had that same feeling of panic beforehand," she says. "Now I know it means I'm on the cusp of an amazing new challenge, growth opportunity or experience."
Pre-performance anxiety feels a little different to each of us, but it has a universal power. "I know I'll go through cycles of doubt and fear on every climb," says Davis. "Intense feelings are part of why I'm climbing instead of sitting on the couch." In other words: Appreciate the rush—then go kick some serious ass.
Try these five techniques to get in the zone:
1. Track yourself. Keep a journal of your anxiety level in relation to how you perform in a few challenging situations. It may differ by scenario: Calm is usually best for speeches; jitters tend to be good for athletic events.
2. Fuel properly. Research suggests that carbs don't just power workouts, they also increase levels of calming hormones like serotonin. Aim for 130 grams daily of healthy starches, like sweet potatoes and whole grains.
3. Sleep soundly. A sleep deficit makes it harder to control anxiety. To get better shut-eye: Turn off all of your gadgets (TV, phone, etc.) a few hours before you get into bed, and keep your room at a cool 60 to 67 degrees.
4. Breathe slowly. Feeling anxious? Try this exercise: Take six breaths per minute. That's a four-second inhale, a two- second pause and a four-second exhale. It's relaxing, and it can also help improve focus.
5. Listen to music. An app like RockMyRun can be your tempo deejay. Cue up songs that have around 90 beats per minute to help your nerves. Feeling flat? Perk yourself up with songs that have 120 BPM or more.
SOURCES: Jonathan Fader, Ph.D., author of Life as Sport; Institutes of Medicine; national sleep foundation; alissa rumsey, r.d.
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