For most, speaking in front of a large audience is very uncomfortable. Some even go as far as having stage fright with clammy hands, mental block, and palpitations. But a recent feature on ScienceDaily.com says that people may have been looking at stage fright the wrong way.

Jeremy Jamieson, an assistant psychology professor at the University of Rochester in the US, hypothesized that onstage stress may be reframed to work for people instead of against them.

"The problem is that we think all stress is bad,” he says. “We see headlines about 'Killer Stress' and talk about being 'stressed out… But those feelings just mean that our body is preparing to address a demanding situation. The body is marshaling resources, pumping more blood to our major muscle groups and delivering more oxygen to our brains.”

In order to prove this, Jamieson, together with his colleagues, worked with 69 adults and asked them to speak about their strengths and weaknesses in front of two critical judges for five minutes with only three minutes to prepare. They were separated into two groups: one was taught how stress could be used to their advantage and asked to read three psychological studies about the benefits of stress, while the other group didn't receive any helpful infomation on how to deal with stress.

After the speech, all the participants were asked to count backwards in steps of seven from 996, with the critical judges asking them to start over every time they made a mistake. The results showed that those who learned how to use stress and stage fright to their benefit performed better in both tasks, saying that they felt that they had more resources and energy to use, as compared with those who didn’t receive any preparation.

Jamieson adds that there are many stressful situations that don’t require peak performance. During these instances, relaxation techniques would suffice. However, in situations such as public speaking or a job interview, mastering and controlling the body’s stress responses may prove to be more beneficial.

(Photo by Håkan Dahlström via Flickr Creative Commons)