According to the great and world-famous philosopher, Clavicular, it’s important to keep your cortisol low.
Now, unfortunately for extempers, extemp is the speech and debate event with perhaps the most cortisol spikes; however, internet brainrot jokes aside, the effect of raising cortisol, more colloquially known as stress, is intertwined with extemp. For an event with the premise of answering questions that could range from Argentina’s inflation to China’s housing market in only 30 minutes, and then delivering a 7-minute speech without notes on that same question, it’s not always easy to stay calm. Yet, not only has chronic stress been correlated with long-term negative health effects, but it also negates one of the main reasons for doing speech and debate in the first place — having fun.
So, in an effort to actually enjoy the event we all love and to become the best extemper you can possibly be, it’s important to explore strategies for handling stress.
The Generic Solutions
Stress in the human body takes form in the kidneys’ adrenal glands, when they secrete a hormone known as cortisol. While elevating cortisol is necessary for proper bodily functions, large spikes or chronic stress can be detrimental. WebMB lists many side effects, including anxiety, depression, headaches, heart disease, memory and concentration problems, problems with digestion, trouble sleeping, and weight gain. While this seems trivial for our ancestors 10,000 years ago, when they needed to run from lions, it certainly isn’t beneficial to us every weekend while extemping.
At tournaments, it’s important to know how to relax. While cliché, taking deep breaths truly can help. Deep breathing activates our parasympathetic nervous system, directly counteracting our “fight-or-flight” high-cortisol mode. In between rounds and after speeches, try to take a breather so your body can realize that there aren’t life-altering threats at every corner.
On top of breathing, the typical strategies you learn growing up are applicable at tournaments. Stepping out for a breath of fresh air can help you ground yourself in something other than a speech. Watching people pass by, birds flying overhead, and cars bustling by can take your mind off what might have gone wrong or other factors you can’t control. Stretching and meditating are also simple solutions that can have a significant effect on preparing for your next round.
Watching Your Battery
In the jungles our ancestors roamed, it was important to have a fight-or-flight response in order to survive. However, being able to get out of dangerous situations meant nothing if you had nowhere to go — that’s why it was important to return to your community. At speech and debate tournaments, it can be advantageous to return to our primal desires and congregate with those we love.
Speech and debate is a wonderful activity to meet new friends. Very rarely in your life will you be surrounded by hundreds of peers your age who have experienced the same niche struggles and would love nothing more than to speak. However, talking to anyone takes a hidden cognitive load. We don’t always realize it, but a conversation requires active listening, thoughtful consideration of responses, and adaptation to your environment. Furthermore, when meeting someone for the first time, we have to store key details about them while also constantly picking up on their social cues to gauge whether they enjoy what we’re saying. For introverts, the task is daunting, and for extroverts it’s exciting, but either way, it takes up energy — energy you need to have the best round possible.
It helps, especially after tough rounds or before big ones, to surround yourself by people you don’t need to put as much effort into. Whether that’s a friend who you can rest your shoulder on while listening to music or someone you enjoy listening to, surround yourself by people who don’t drain your social battery, but rather, refill it.
Additionally, it’s essential to give yourself the time you deserve. No one can understand your emotions quite like you, so taking a moment to be alone and process can go a long way in making sure you’re having the best time possible. Speaking to people isn’t an obligation, and understanding that is crucial to making sure you’re on top of it when you draw your next question.
Eliud Kipchoge, not Usain Bolt
With the biggest tournament of the year coming up, NSDA nationals, it’s easy to forget during practice that tournaments are not won by one stellar performance; they are the culmination of countless hours of dedication and hard work.
Extemp is a marathon, not a sprint. Unless you find yourself on a national final stage, the race is not over. This means that taking care of yourself is a pertinent step in achieving the highest levels of success. Watch the little habits around you, and you’ll stay more focused on the extemp.
Make sure you eat a healthy breakfast and pack nutritious snacks to keep you fueled throughout the day. It’s certainly not easy to give upwards of four speeches in a day, and your body being well-fueled is a way to make it a little more bearable. Having that little bit of extra energy can be the difference between you dreading the next round and loving it, translating directly into how well of a speech you can give.
Other habits, like sleeping well and staying active, can sometimes seem tangential to your performance, but they are small things you can do that make the activity feel just a little bit less stressful. Staying up late to prep just a little more might seem like a smart decision in a fatigued, stressed mind, but choosing the long-term decision goes a long way.
Final Thoughts
Finally, this last piece of advice is a bit unconventional, but it’s a personal lifesaver.
After your melatonin last night did nothing and you’re running on 3 hours, you woke up late and could hardly eat anything but some chocolate candy, your judge looked visibly angry during your speech, and to make everything worse, you spilled coffee on your suit… remember to smile.
It’s so counterintuitive, but that’s exactly why it works. Unless you’re a sadist, you probably reserve your smiles when you’re surrounded by people you love, and life is looking up. The extraordinary part is that your body thinks that, too. So, when you smile when everything seems to be going wrong, it prevents you from spiraling. It may feel physically impossible (and you might think you’re going crazy), but a smile reminds us why we’re all here in the first place: to do what we love.
In the end, handling stress is a misnomer. You can’t quite “handle” anything. In fact, there’s not much that you really can do. However, in life and extemp, we can only control so much. By focusing on what your inputs are, you can only ever hope for the best outputs. Sometimes you can do everything right, and your body will still make you think that you’re on the brink of death, and that’s okay, it’s life. In the end, we can only control what we can control, and by directing your attention to that, you’ll give the best speeches you possibly can, becoming the greatest extemp-version of yourself.