5 . As both a parent and a college professor, I have witnessed the destructive effects of test anxiety. Students with it can say quickly the material and explain complex content in a relaxed environment but fail in an exam. When it matters the most, students with test anxiety can convey the least.

Some students turn to drugs. With any medicine, there is a concern for safety, particularly when it is with the brain, the body’s most complicated and important organ. A new study suggests there may be a choice to these drugs for students: an open-label placebo (安慰剂).

Placebos have long been known to effectively reduce symptoms for different illnesses. Traditionally, service of a placebo treatment requires some tricks, in that people believe they are receiving an active, effective treatment, but in reality, they are taking a sugar pill or an activity that has no medical help. An open-label placebo is different: people are told from the start that they are receiving a placebo that contains no medication. And yet Schaefer’s findings indicate that people may still benefit from it.

Why did the placebo work? At this point, scientists are not entirely sure. Human mental processes can be changed by environment. Taking the pills each day may have encouraged participants to think about test anxiety and may have also provided a sense that they were doing something to deal with it.

Finally, although participants taking the placebos did show improvement on a number of self-report measures, they had no benefit over the control group with respect to scores on their final exams. They may have felt better about taking their exams, but those feelings did not change into improved test scores.

Despite these limits, the present findings are appealing and suggest a low-cost, low-risk way for reducing an all-too common problem among students.

6 . If you have been diagnosed with panic disorder, then you have likely experienced constant fear and anxiety. Research has shown that using relaxation techniques can help reduce nervousness.

Some common techniques include breathing exercises or yoga.     1     Another powerful one is visualization, which can help you relieve stress. It involves using mental imagery to achieve a more relaxed state of mind.

Similar to daydreaming, visualization is accomplished through the use of your imagination. There are reasons why visualization can help you cope with panic disorder or panic attacks.     2     When experiencing a panic attack, your mind may focus on the worry, the worst things that can happen and other concerns that only add to your sense of fearfulness. Visualization works to expand your ability to relax by focusing your mind on more calming images.

Before visualization, make sure your environment is set up for your comfort. To better relax, get rid of any distractions (干扰), such as phones, pets or TV.     3     Remove any heavy jewelry or restricting clothing. Get ready to relax by either sitting or lying down in a position that feels most comfortable to you.     4     Feel free to change it to better suit your needs and imagination.

    5     Through regular practice, you will more easily be able to use visualization when you really need it, such as when you start feeling the physical symptoms of panic and anxiety.

7 . When I was a kid I was a bit of a scaredy-cat. The "adventurer" in my family has always been my big brother. Still, I'm always trying to shake up the scaredy-cat inside me. And I've always known how important it is for girls to feel brave. However, girls, at large, experience so much hesitancy and a drop in confidence as they grow up.

One way to stop losing heart is to encourage a sense of adventure in girls before they are teenagers. Such adventures don't have to be big. Research from Angelia Ruskin University shows that even just going for a walk or a run outside leaves people feeling more confident and better about their bodies. After all nature doesn't care how we look. It doesn't care who our friends are or what grades we get. It is a place where we can really be ourselves.

That's why I teamed up with Amy Blackwell, the award-winning illustrator, to create a middle-grade book containing real-life women's adventures from around the world, from 2,000 years ago to today. The Girl Who Rode a Shark and Other Stories of Daring Women has been receiving star reviews in lots of places.

It is all of those amazing women that make the book a hit. While reading, they can trace the ocean-soaring flights of pilot Amelia Earhart, follow Isabella Bird's exploration up the Yangtze River and meet Kimi Werner, the freediving chef who met with a great white shark. That's why kids just can't get enough of those stories. I hope these stories can help so many kids feel confident and excited when they walk into the world.

As for me? While I still feel a little nervous to begin an adventure up a big mountain or across a frozen river, I feel I have more courage than I did as a kid. I now have a lot of role models to help me.

8 . People spend too much time and effort trying to control anxiety these days. Here are some things you can do to help minimize anxiety’s negative effects.

    1     If you treat anxiety as part of life and part of everyone’s living experience, you can learn to relate it with self-compassion and even with humor. This is a cornerstone of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), which has been gaining clinical validation.

ACT guides people to see their unpleasant emotions as just feelings and accept that parts of life are hard. Doctors encourage patients to begin a dialogue with anxious thoughts.     2     Meanwhile, they also keep in mind patients’ personal goals and values. Although anxious thoughts shouldn’t be completely controlled, sufferers can be trained not to allow anxiety to turn them away from what they want to do and who they want to be.

Make lifestyle adjustments.     3     This requires trial and error to get just right. While acceptance is the first and most important step, some lifestyle changes have been proved to take the edge off as well.

Work out regularly. When tiredness and stress leave you more exposed to anxiety, a well-balanced diet and adequate rest are helpful.     4     One research study shows that regular vigorous workouts reduce the likelihood of developing an anxiety disorder over the next five years by 25 percent.

As a specialist, Arthur also shares her experiences on the website, openly discussing her anxiety has transformed her relationship with it. “I’m learning to live in harmony, as much as possible, with this thing that is part of me,” she says. “It’s not always pleasant, but I accept it.     5    ”