SPEED READING EVELYN WOOD SEZ: STRESS
Author: H. Bernard Wechsler

The following are excerpts, quotes, and paraphrased comments from lectures,
conversations and writings by *Evelyn Wood (1909-1995).

(1). Q. "Is it a scientific fact that stress defeats analytic thinking, breaks-down
concentration, comprehension and long-term memory?"

And causes "regressions" in reading, and lowers reading fluency – speed – by
a minimum of 25%. Did you know that reading on your computer reduces your
standard reading speed on paper by 25-30% - and produces up to 10% loss in
concentration? It turns out that the glare of the screen, and how our eyes adapt to pixel clarity drive reading speed on the Net.

(2). Q. "I have heard so many meanings of stress, Dr. Hans Seyle said he took it from an architectural term, what is an inclusive definition?"

A disruption in our physiological, psychological and/or emotional state-of-mind.
Its cause is almost always self-induced – the way we choose to react to circumstances including the words and reactions of other people to us. Synonyms are "strain and tension", and it comes from Middle English and the word "distress". In architecture it's measured in Pascals, (pounds-per-inch), building material stress – what it can withstand.

(3). Q. "Stress in people interferes with equilibrium in mind, body and emotions, that's clear, but why do we often become sick "after" stressful situations?"

My opinion, not based on science, is that fear – specifically from "fight or flight",
is so powerful a reflex that when it is released from its cage, it rages on to disable our immune system. Post-Stress Syndrome is as common as getting a cold in winter, or back-pain after strenuous lifting by urban-coach-potatoes.

(4) . Q. "Tell me again why "stress" is a part of speed reading?"

Because it disarms every element of speed reading – concentration, comprehension,
long-term memory and reading speed. Non-speed readers, from 4th grade to college-graduates, suffer from s-l-o-w learning skills all their lives; stress reduces their already minimum reading levels by another 25-30% whether on paper or electronically. It is our responsibility to offer proven suggestions that either eliminate or prevent future stress-attacks from intervening with our cognitive growth through reading.

(5). Q. "Where do we start in even recognizing the signs of stress?"

Good point: our society is so inured to the symptoms of daily stress, we accept
them as normal. We do not take notice of our rapid heartbeat, slight dizziness,
shallow breathing, and headaches. Most of us blame the weather or allergies for our repetitious bouts of minor and major illnesses. After studying the latest research and its attributions blaming "stress" as the precipitator of cancer, heart disease and stroke, the top three killers, and assigning major contribution for even a
running nose, red-eye and the inability to win the Lotto to stress, it is our job to recognize and prevent it from the get-go.

Here are the seven elements of stress to identify:

1. Posture – Notice the tilt of your "torso", how we hold our body. Look at the shape
of your chest in the mirror (it doesn't work if you puff it out), look at other people and see the differences in their stature – it reveals their body-language too. The un-stressed position is the chest leading from the sternum (breatbone), and should be
"rounded" moving toward the shoulders. The torso (trunk), should be tilted forward, not backward.

2. Neck and Head balance: The expression – jaunty "tilt" of the head describes an
unstressed person. When we are stressed-out the tilt of our head moves out of kilter,
and the neck and head droops downward. To be stress-free our neck should be in-line with the rest of our torso, and our head held high, eyes forward – like the proverbial soldier. A stiff neck and a headache are the result of prolonged out-of-balance head and neck.

3. Rocking front-to-back while standing: rarely is "rocking" noticeable because we
are referring to "micro-muscular body movements. Check this: a slight rocking front-to-back occurs when we are producing "positive", affirmative thoughts, while
side-to-side rocking is a symptom of "negative" ideas possessing our mind, emotions
and body. Notice hand-gestures. Yes, it is a cultural trait, but where hand-motions are minimal – (the U.S.), exaggerated hand gesturing is reflective of stress. President Harry Truman used the "measure-a-fish" hands-gesture, when he was under stress.

4. Breath: discover where your breath comes from. Stomach, chest, diaphragm, or throat? When we are stressed we become shallow-breathers, often inhaling from our mouth instead of nose. Healthy non-stressful breathing is deeper and "continuous".

That sounds ridiculous – don't we all breathe "continuously"?

When we are stressed we "hold-our-breath", and breathe only half, or one-third of the time compared to when we are unstressed. We are unaware of "not" breathing because we are focus on solving the object of our stress.

Solo-chanting, using diaphragmatic breathing is an excellent solution. When we are
speaking notice if we "stop-for-a-breath". Optimally we should breathe from our
stomach – deeply – "before" responding.

Be aware of our tongue as the #1 source of stress – it is constantly "bracing" to
answer the other person. It is a learned-experience in our culture, and the habitually raised position of our tongue is itself a source of stress. When it is in a "bracing" position, it is like a coiled-snake ready to strike – drop it flat-down and you reduce
latent and potential stress.

(6). Q. "Who could remember all these indicators of stress and fix them?"

"Stress kills!" may be an exaggeration, but "Stress sets us up for the death knell!",
is a fair principle when we add, "consistent and habitual stress". Reread the list,
get the "gist" of each of the seven, and use them to analyze yourself and others.

To continue:

(5) is Facial Expression: Did you know that our left-brain maintains the neural-network assemblage of "familiar-faces", and our right-brain those of "new",
faces? Check for pursed-lips, tense eyes, and notice if there is a smile or scowl while listening, and prior to speaking?
Stress reveals itself in all these, plus the creases in our
forehead, the tilt of the nose, and even redness of the ears.

(6) Eyes deserve their own trait category. Our eyes "sparkle", they look into the eyes of the listener – or not, seem dull and distant, and focus upward or downward,
to the left or right. You already knew that, but did you know that the first indication of stress and depression is when we habitually looked "downward", and the sign of
optimism and creative thinking is when we focus upward and to the right. It indicates we are thinking about the "future". Remember this – thinking and moving our eyes to the right is futuristic-thinking, and to the left, concern, worry and analysis of the past. Guilty-feelings cause us to focus left.

My mother used to say, 'if you think that feeling "bad" ("I'm going to the back yard and eat worms!"), or "worrying" about the past is going to change it – you live on
another planet than the rest of us.' Remember, what we are thinking, feeling, even
mentally hearing (subvox), are reflected in cues in our eyes.

(7) Speech: the rhythm, speed, tone, and volume of our voice affects the way we sound to others, and often indicates the level of stress we have internalized.

Become aware of the words we use – violent, corrupt, incendiary words – curses, are
not a sign of "coolness", but stress. They may offend, but worse, they control the speaker, not the other way around. Our relationships, and how we feel about ourselves – "Denial is not just a river in Egypt!", are reflected by our vocabulary.

How many times in a conversation do we repeat like a parrot – "you-know!" or
"like he said, or "like I said"? Get a grip – "words-are-things", and they cause or wreck meaningful-relationships, or incite and maintain anger and hatred. Yes, the volume knob counts. Remember, as we speak, we ourselves, are listening, and the experience we describe changes our State-Of-Mind for the better or vice-versa. Test it by focusing on changing your volume for a day, or your use of language for a week, and you will notice that your associates and others relate to you differently – more congruous and less incongruously. Our voice tone changes relationships and how we view ourselves.

That's it, begin to consider the seven refinements to an unstressful life. One last thing, there is such a thing as "good" stress, we call it "eustress", and it is an
enthusiasm and a liveliness to fulfill our objectives. The question is how often do we
experience "stress verses eustress"?

Thank you and be useful.
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copyright 2003
H. Bernard Wechsler
www.speedlearning.org
email: hbw@speedlearning.org

*H. Bernard Wechsler and The SpeedLearning Institute are NOT connected or associated, nor affiliated with the present management of Evelyn Wood speed reading.






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H. Bernard Wechsler is a senior educational consultant to The SpeedLearning Institute, affiliated with Long Island University, The Learning Annex, and The DOME Project. He is one of the founders of Evelyn Wood speed reading graduating 2 million including Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Carter.

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