You’ve likely heard of athletes and cops being in “the zone”, and maybe you’ve experienced that heightened state of consciousness yourself. Being in the zone usually enables a greater sense of agility and stamina, a hyper-focus on the activity at hand, the feeling of being totally in control, and of time itself decelerating. Sounds are tuned out and visual perception is tuned in and turned up. It’s in this optimal state of arousal you thirstily drink your opposition’s milkshake.
In the book On Killing, Dave Grossman writes “The optimal state of ‘arousal’ - the range in which stress improves performance- is when our heart rate is between 115 and 145 beats per minute.“
As you might imagine, this optimal range is a very narrow window, and it isn’t applicable for all people at all times. For instance, a golfer’s optimal state of arousal would differ vastly from a bodyguard or a Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) member. The optimal bpm range would depend on the occupation, the situation on hand, and a myriad of other variables. Everyone needs to experiment and find their own zone.
Grossman goes on to warn: “After 145 [heart beats per minute], bad things begin to happen. Complex motor skills start to break down. Doing something with one hand and not the other becomes very difficult… At 175, we begin to see an absolute breakdown of cognitive processing… the forebrain shuts down, and the mid-brain… reaches up and hijacks the forebrain… Vision becomes even more restricted. Behaviour becomes inappropriately aggressive.“
Often, untrained people with a low tolerance for stress will overshoot this optimal range and become too aroused, to the extent of being unable to function physically or mentally. They become frozen with indecision and fear. It’s for this reason Grossman suggests everyone practice dialling 911 on a regular basis (you can avoid a trip to the clink by unplugging the phone first). Program the sequence of finger stokes into your body, so when you need to make the emergency call in a high-arousal, crisis situation, you can do so with minimal thought and zero error. Bodyguards and soldiers take it a lengthened stride further. These professionals are repeatedly exposed to stressful and potentially dangerous situations to immunize them from cognitive breakdown and loss of motor function.
In my book Zero to Superhero, I discussed how members of Speznas (Russian Special Forces) would be locked in a windowless room with a vicious dog, armed only with a spade. In that situation (and there were many of those kinds of situations for the Speznas), it’s DO or DIE. They learn to find their optimal state of arousal and how to stay within that range - and fast. Top athletes can effortlessly slip into the zone too; it’s a combination of confidence, skill, and years of hardcore training that gives them easy access to this amazing altered state.
STORY HERE