Acute Stress

Dealing with acute stress in the moment and taking control of our stress response.

Here we are focused on acute stress, those short-lived bursts of potentially high-intensity stress which can feel unpleasant and undermine our performance if not handled with insight and skill.

Typical sources of acute stress include:

Unexpected events (job loss, breakup, medical emergency)
High-stakes situations (public speaking, job interviews, exams)
Conflict and confrontation (arguments, workplace tension)
Time pressure and deadlines (last-minute tasks, running late, traffic jams)
Physical danger or threats (accidents, natural disasters)
Overstimulation (crowded, noisy environments)
Performance pressure (competitions, auditions, presentations)
Sudden change or uncertainty (bad news, disrupted plans)

The symptoms of acute stress include:

Rapid heartbeat
Shortness of breath
Sweating
Muscle tension
Upset stomach or nausea
Dizziness or lightheadedness
Shaking or trembling
Racing thoughts
Irritability or agitation
Difficulty concentrating
Feeling overwhelmed or panicked
Nail biting

Q. Are you experiencing acute stress?

The first level of zoom-out is to recognise when we are in a state of acute stress. Acute stress is familiar to us all. The above sources and symptoms of acute stress may help us get a little more clarity.

When we are gripped by a stressful situation, we are in fight, flight or freeze mode. This is evolution’s way of helping us deal with challenging situations even if it means overreacting. Better to be safe and alive than happy and stress-free.

“Evolutionary Distortions” Zoom-Out

Drafting… Evolution did not design our minds to see clearly …

The steps below will help you zoom-out further, to step back from the stressor and your stress response itself and gain more control.

Q. Is your focus unhelpfully narrow?

When we experience stress, our focus tends to narrow.

Again, this has an evolutionary advantage in that it increases our chances of survival and passing on our genes when it really matters. In most cases, this is an overreaction.

We are facing a challenging situation.

But just when a broader perspective could be most helpful, our focus has instead narrowed in a potentially unhelpful way.

For example, we can become fixated on a single course of action which may be hindered. We persist as this is the only course of action we can see in this moment when in fact other options may be available to us when we zoom-out.

So when we experience stress, keep in mind that by zooming-out and applying the actions below, we can not only keep things in perspective but also open our mind to other ways of seeing and dealing with the current situation.

Q. Are you breathing optimally?

When we are stressed or feeling anxious, our breathing diminishes. So just when we may need our maximum internal resources, we are cutting off the oxygen supply!

Some have referred to this dramatically as a “self-lobotomy” as this can severely undercut our mental faculties (pre-frontal cortex).