Many, many moons ago I was watching Grey’s Anatomy with my wife, and Dr. Shepherd had everyone in the OR do a “Super Hero” pose before they operated on a brain tumor.
Why did he do it?
Researchers have shown that standing in certain dominant positions can raise testosterone and lowers cortisol levels. Quietly standing in a specific way could reduce stress and increase performance.
Following that rabbit hole a little further…
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Cuddy, along with her collaborator Dana Carney of Berkeley, ran an experiment in which people were directed to adopt either high-power or low-power poses for two minutes. Then they were asked if they wanted to gamble. Cuddy and Carney found that 86% of those who posed in the high-power position opted to gamble, while only 60% of the low-power posers felt comfortable taking a roll of the dice. But even more interesting — there were physiological differences between the two groups, as shown by saliva samples.
While high-power posers showed an 8% increase in testosterone, low-power posers had a 10% decrease in the hormone. Meanwhile, the inverse relationship happened with cortisol, the hormone related to stress. While high-power posers experienced a 25% decrease in cortisol levels, low-power posers had a 15% increase in their stress levels.
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This paragraph is from an article written by Kate Torgovnick featured in the TED blog.
Imagine taking 2 minutes out before your exam to simply stand with your hands on your hips, and you can get a testosterone swing of 18% and cortisol swing of 35% !!!
We’re talking about 2 minutes here. Almost nothing.
How can you not give this a try?
Speaking of trying simple things that will help you on your exam, check out The Final Step.
Brian Wallace
