Saying I Am Excited Helped Nervous Singers Sing Better
The same racing heart can be read as fear or fuel, and a one-sentence reframe changed both feelings and performance.
Science Vs · Stress: The Science of Chilling OutPicture the worst karaoke night of your life. You are handed a microphone, you do not get to pick the song, and you have to sing Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" in front of a room full of strangers.
That is what happened to about 100 people in a psychology experiment. Everyone had to sing the same power ballad, with other people watching. Not surprisingly, their hearts started beating faster as soon as they learned what was coming.
It was a deliberate setup to create stage fright in the lab. The question was whether a few words, said out loud beforehand, could change what that racing heart meant and how well people performed.
Some singers were assigned to say, "I am excited." Other singers were assigned to say, "I am anxious." The excited group said they felt more excited afterward. More striking, they actually sang better, hitting notes more accurately and straying less off key, as judged by software that analyzed their voices.
The idea behind it comes from work by Jeremy Jamieson, a researcher who studies how people handle pressure. He argues that a pounding heart and sweaty hands are not just signs of trouble. They are the body sending more blood and energy to where it is needed, fuel that can be used.
In another study, he and his colleagues tested that idea on more than 300 community college students before a big math test. Some students were taught that stress can be helpful and should be leaned into, while others were simply told to ignore it. As Jamieson put it, "You lean into it. You use it. It's a resource."
The students who learned to see their nerves as fuel did better. As Meryl Horn put it, they were "about 15% more likely to pass the class" than the students told to ignore the stress. Their bodies also showed a different pattern during the test, making relatively more testosterone and less of the stress hormone cortisol.
The karaoke study took the same lesson and shrunk it to a single sentence. The singers did not get to pick the song. They were still nervous, and they still had to sing in front of others. Calling the feeling excitement instead of anxiety seemed to turn it from a hindrance into help.
So the next time your heart pounds before you have to perform, you might try saying out loud that you are excited before you begin.
Questions people ask
Why would saying "I am excited" work better than trying to calm down?
Anxiety and excitement are both high-energy states, with a fast heartbeat and alertness, so it is a short mental jump from one to the other. Trying to feel calm demands a much bigger drop in arousal, which is hard when your heart is already pounding. Researchers call this reappraisal, relabeling the same physical signals as excitement about a challenge.
Did the students just feel better, or did their bodies respond differently?
Both changed. Students taught to use stress were more likely to pass and showed a different hormone pattern, with relatively more testosterone and less cortisol. That pattern is tied to what scientists call a challenge response, where blood vessels stay relaxed and blood reaches muscles and the brain more easily, and the body returns to baseline faster.
Can I use this before a test, interview, or speech?
That is what the lab studies suggest. Before the stressful event, remind yourself that a racing heart and sweaty hands are your body giving you energy, then say out loud that you are excited. It does not remove nerves, it gives them a useful job. It is not meant for panic attacks or overwhelming stress, where calming down is more appropriate.