Improving Test-Taking Skills & Academic Performance in High School Students Using HeartMath Learning Enhancement Tools

Today, the teaching focus is typically on honing children's cognitive skills; rarely does the focus include teaching the key to cognitive performance -- getting the mental, emotional and nervous systems to work together. The Institute of HeartMath® has developed scientifically validated tools and advanced test-taking strategies to help students of all ages refine their cognitive performance skills. These educational programs are based on new scientific discoveries about the heart and its relationship to emotional stability, cognitive functioning and improved academic performance.

Why Focusing on the Heart Improves Learning

Dr. Robert Rees, director of education and humanities for the HeartMath Institute says, "A young person's inability to handle complex and conflicting emotions, can result in increased anger, anxiety, fear and depression and poor academic performance." He goes on to say, "Stress, emotions and hormones create a physiological state that challenges the persons coping mechanisms. Feelings of anxiety and stress can block the ability to remember what they already know."

So why is the heart being linked to better academic performance? Dr. Rollin McCraty, director of research for the HeartMath Institute explains, "Anxiety creates a type of ‘noise' in the brain that disrupts our ability to comprehend and reason. For students, this means their ability to accurately answer questions that require thinking or problem solving is greatly impaired. The student may know the answers to the test questions. They've studied and prepared for weeks, but when faced with the pressure of the actual test and the fear of failing, the memory of what they've learned becomes locked up and they can't recall the information. The intensity of the anxiety is often related to what is at stake."

Dr. McCraty calls this phenomenon "cortical inhibition." He says, "The heart can help neutralize the stress that causes our brain to jam under pressure. The heart puts out a powerful rhythmic signal that the brain responds to. As we experience emotional reactions like anger, frustration, anxiety and insecurity, our heart rhythms become incoherent, or more jagged, which interferes with the two-way communication between the heart and brain. When this communication is compromised it affects important aspects of cognitive function. Our reaction speeds are slower, our reasoning and decision making skills are hindered, and our ability to access previously learned information is impaired. We are showing students how they can neutralize the stress and change the heart's rhythmic signal to the brain so that the brain will respond more effectively. This same concept is already being used in military training, police and firefighter training, and corporate environments where stress levels can be overwhelming. Our techniques are proven to work in all these areas and we've seen it work for students too.

HeartMath programs have been proven to work for all types of people and they have more than a decade of research demonstrating positive results in children in a wide range of grade, socio-economic and emotional levels. High school seniors who received a 3-week training in HeartMath learning enhancement skills demonstrated substantial improvements in test scores and passing rates on state-required Math and Reading tests. Students also experienced significant reductions in hostility, depression and other key indicators of psychological distress after learning HeartMath tools.

At our Stress Solutions Centre, Licensed HeartMath coaches provide HeartMath coaching for students of all ages.

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