ExamPANIC!

Mindfulness Exercises

Here you can take 5 and practice some mindfulness. Mindfulness can help us to accept what we are feeling and thinking, notice when our thoughts and experiences hook our attention and take us away from this present moment and allow us to practice bringing that attention back in a non-judgemental, compassionate and intentional way to this present moment. It can help us to connect with what matters in our lives. At Oxford, time is a precious thing (that we feel we never have enough of), so take some time to invest in yourself and your mental wellbeing.

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What is take 5?

Take 5 is a free website resource for Oxford students who are feeling panic about their exams.
This is a University of Oxford Counselling Service pilot project. This website explains more about how exam panic, anxiety, stress and worry affect the body and mind and why you are feeling what you are, well … feeling (which can include mild stress and worry to full-blown, white knuckle terror). Best viewed with Google Chrome.

Brainstorms...

When we panic our thoughts start to race and repeat like a broken record.
We struggle to concentrate and focus and can also feel light headed due to breathing faster. These sensations can be accompanied by feelings of unreality or detachment as the brain works overtime to figure things out.

Eyes wide open…

Panic also causes our eyes to widen in order to let in more light so we can see possible threats and making us more sensitive to light.
As the body heats up and changes temperature, we can also start to sweat to cool down.

Difficult to swallow…

Panic makes the blood vessels in the mouth narrow, resulting in a dry mouth.
This can make us feel thirsty, or worse, like we’re choking. It can also stop us from feeling hungry and feel uninterested in food or drink.

Inhale, exhale…

As panic takes hold, our breathing becomes faster and more rapid.
This is because the body is trying to take in more oxygen to feed the body and muscles to prepare us for fight or flight. This can also result in feelings of choking or thoughts like “I can’t breathe!!!"

Heart beats faster…

Panic causes our blood to become full of adrenaline as well as other nutrients.
The heart beats faster to pump blood rich nutrients around the body to reach various body parts. This can result in palpitations and can also feel like your heart is bursting out of your chest. Your heart is doing what it is meant to do.

Butterflies…

Panic also reduces blood flow to the stomach and intestines causing it to constrict, shut down and try to remove any excess weight in undigested food.
This can result in stomach cramps, loss of appetite, nausea and – yes, you guessed it – butterflies.

I need to pee…

Finally panic causes our bladder to shut down in order make us lighter and more likely to outrun any threat.
There’s an increased urge to urinate. We may worry that we could wet ourselves, but this is unlikely, as we have conscious control over a ring of muscle called a sphincter.

So there you have it…

Exam panic is no laughing matter but it’s also fair to say that things probably aren’t as bad as you think they are, it’s part of fight, flight, freeze or fawn mode (aka panic mode).
In fact the reason it’s happening in the first place is because of a perfectly normal biological response we humans have evolved to keep us safe from hungry lions on the savannah. Your mind will make many predictions which don’t come true, so separating the reality of something happening from a physical reaction in the body is important.

PHEW!

Resources

We hope this website can help you to understand what exam panic is and why it happens.
That it is natural and understandable. Perhaps exam panic is something you can try make some room for and not be scared of? What can you change in your environment and the way you study? And what do you need to start accepting? To help you, please find some resources below that can help with this process of making space for how you feel.