It's Presentation Time - Why Do I Want To Run And Hide?

Picture this. It’s 9:00 am and you have to present to your boss and a team of 6 people at 10. You’re prepared. Your slides are in order; your handouts printed and stacked neatly on your desk. You’ve rehearsed and figured out answers to any possible curveballs the audience will most likely throw at you. You are ready! So why are you getting nervous? You are thinking about the presentation too much and your body is releasing Cortisol – better known as the Stress Hormone. Rather than shaking it off, you get more and more anxious. At 9:55 am you enter the conference room. Your boss is already there as are the other 6 people. Your anxiety level is skyrocketing. Your heart is racing, you’re breathing faster and you are really sweating now. You want to run away, but you know you can’t. This is because your Adrenaline is in full flow. The fight or flight hormone has just kicked in at high gear and your mind is telling you one thing; Fight or flight! You take a deep breath and begin your presentation. Your voice is quivering and your hands are shaking. But you get through it. By 11:00 the meeting is over and all you want to do is take a nap!

Cortisol and adrenaline can be your best friends or your worst enemies. Your body secretes these hormones because you are stressed and you need to cope. But this is a biological response that is deep in your DNA and dates back to the time when your stress was focused on not getting eaten by a saber tooth tiger and not about presenting your latest findings to a group of people.

There are a couple of tricks that can help you calm nerves. In the story I just described, we oftentimes begin to exhibit the nervous rush before we actually take to the stage or start the meeting. Hours before the event we can get butterflies in the stomach and start sweating and shaking. If this is a normal response for you, I would suggest these three tips to curb the initial cortisol spike:

1. Get more sleep
2. Don’t drink anything with caffeine
3. Exercise the day of the event

Remember, the surge of cortisol is to prepare your body to deal with an immediate danger. Our blood pressure rises and our muscles tighten because we are in imminent danger. Yet in our modern lives we are often not faced with the threat of being eaten or killed, but our bodies react the same way no matter the stress. Although some people may beg to differ, presenting to their boss is scarier than being chased by a wolf!

Here are some tips to help you when you feel the adrenaline rush come over you:

1. Do 20 jumping jacks and 10 push ups
2. Go outside and sprint across the parking lot 4 times
3. Walk a few flights of stairs
4. If you have the time, take a 20 minute walk or jog around the block

If you cannot do anything physical, then I suggest doing some deep breathing exercises. My favorite was created by Dr. Andrew Weil. It’s called the The 4-7-8 (or Relaxing Breath) Exercise. It’s very simple and takes little time to do and master.

• Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of four.
• Hold your breath for a count of seven.
• Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of eight.
• This is one breath. Now inhale again and repeat the cycle three more times for a total of four breaths.

Weil says this exercise is a natural tranquilizer for the nervous system. It is subtle when you first try it but gains in power with repetition and practice. You can do it every day as much as you want. He suggests that you do not do more than four breaths at one time for the first month. You can up it to eight breaths when you get into shape. If you feel a little lightheaded when you first breathe this way, do not be concerned; it will pass.

The bottom line is that if you don't get even a little nervous before you speak then maybe you are not human. It's a normal response. The real question is, how are you going to deal with it? Now that you know that a lot has to do with your body chemistry, I suggest the next time you feel like you want to run away, then do it - just make sure you get back in time to present!

Photo Credit: Christopher Cotrell