The impact of stress and anxiety on learning

We know about the negative impact of educational experiences on the mental health of children, indeed the BDA’s report on the Human Cost of Dyslexia highlighted that this is an area of real concern.

There is though, an additional consideration as well as the obvious detrimental impact on the individual. Research tells us that stress and anxiety actually do inhibit learning particularly where it is prolonged or where there is repeated exposure (McEwen 2012). When we are stressed or highly anxious the hormones that the body produces, particularly cortisol, divert essential resources from the brain to the large muscles in the body in preparation for fight and flight. So, in simple terms the “thinking part” of the brain needed for learning can’t work effectively during periods of heightened stress and increased anxiety.

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