No Pain, No Math! How to Overcome Math Anxiety?

Math is a difficult discipline and many students are struggling while studying it. However, the recent researches carried out by Ian M. Lyons and Sian L. Beilock at the University of Chicago and published on PLoS ONE journal revealed even more stressful evidence. The experiments showed that, for people with high levels of math-anxiety, the fear of solving math tasks activates brain regions which are responsible for pain perception. The higher the student’s fear of an upcoming math test, the more activity is observed in the regions related to visceral threat detection and the experience of pain. Interestingly, the pain network activation was registered during anticipation of a math-task rather than during the math performance. This data suggest that it is not the math that hurts by itself but the apprehension of doing math that is painful. So, even the expectation of a dreadful event may be excruciating.

Obviously, conquering student’s math anxiety is a more serious issue than parents and tutors would often consider. No doubt, the main clue to peace of mind before any test is a careful preparation and firm grasp of a subject. Unfortunately, due to various reasons, the thorough comprehension of all math concepts is unattainable for many students and they do suffer before each assignment or exam. An accurate study and psychological support may decrease the level of anxiety and fear before an exam. But it is unfair to leave children one on one with this problem. What can diligent educators and loving parents do to release students from this pain?

First of all, like with many anxiety disorders, it is easier to prevent a problem than to solve it afterwards. People are not born with a fear of math. They even may not remember when the math phobia arose. Just at some point in their life they decide that they are not good at math and become afraid of doing any math. So, what the parents can do is to prepare children for these math challenges. It is important to start learning the basics of math with kids as early as possible. An acquaintance of a child with math should be natural, easy and joyful. There are lots of amusing math games for children of all ages that entertain them, along with developing basic math skills and laying the foundation for a comfortable psychological attitude to math tasks in future.

The tutors and parents should be tolerant and avoid teasing or embarrassing students because of a misunderstanding of some math concepts and making mistakes in math. Emotional tension is not only destructive for focusing on study, it may also give rise to math phobia. With due diligence from students and patience from tutors, the understanding may come with time even to those students who do not have great abilities for math. On the contrary, the anxiety and the related pain may cancel all former achievements and make further study very problematic.

If a phobia about math has already been born it is possible to overcome it. The struggle against math anxiety is worth the efforts because nearly every career, whether it is accounting, business, engineering, information technology, medicine or anything else, requires using math. The best way to manage math phobia is to admit its existence. Then, it is necessary to realize that any person has enough brainpower to cope with math problems. There are different types of mentality but everybody can find ways to solve math problems and it is never too late to catch up with this discipline. The next point is to do something about it. Students may apply for help from their professors, tutors, classmates or study centers on campus. Adults can use books, adult education centers and various Internet resources. In order to get better at math everybody can find a private tutor who provides an individual approach to each student which is a great contribution to fast study progress. However, the main key to conquering math phobia is the student’s personal willpower and persistence which are needed to accomplish the mastering of mathematics with everyday practice and exercising some math problems.

Math anxiety and the pain associated with math-related tasks and situations are powerful forces that may bias young people away from attending math classes or selecting a promising career which involves math performance. The deep understanding and investigation of this complicated neural mechanism is a mission of prominent scientists. For ordinary students, tutors and parents, being aware of the potential painful side-effect of math may help to gain better mutual understanding and consequently achieve greater study progress. Don’t let the pain get your math results down!

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