In Daniel Levitin’s TED Talk, “How to Stay Calm When You Know You’ll Be Stressed”, Levitin, a neuroscientist, gives sound recommendations on how to override the brain’s fight-or-flight mechanism, which regulates the brain’s secretion of cortisol and adrenaline into the bloodstream during times of distress.
First, during his story, he recounts an episode where he lost the keys to his house, and rather than freeze outside, he lofted a brick through the window. As a neuroscientist, he realized (later) that the hippocampal structure of his brain remembers things spatially, due to our hunter/gatherer origins. Thus, the location of things that move around a lot, such as a set of keys or credit cards, are less likely to be recalled, especially in times of emergency.
He advises that people keep things in the same place, due to the brain’s hippocampal function. He continues by stating that everyone will face more significant decisions, such as medical ones, where it is important to prepare beforehand for rational decision-making. For example, Levitin states that most people need to prepare well in advance regarding how they will react in a doctor’s office (when a certain drug or surgery is recommended), as a person’s thinking is cloudy under stress.
Thus, Levitin recommends that people conduct what he calls a “pre-mortem”, which is an extensive analysis of everything that could go wrong before one must make a decision. In this way, people are better-equipped to make more rational decisions.
Work Cited
Levitin, Daniel. “How to Stay Calm When You Know You’ll Be Stressed.” Ted Talks. Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 23 Nov. 2015. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.
