Stress response to situational awareness
Outdoor adventures offer plenty of situations to push our limits and help us discover how far we can truly push ourselves. Often accompanied by that path of self discovery is an equally challenging amount of stress. Stress can limit situational awareness by causing a person to become focused on their own stressors and concerns, rather than on the situation at hand. This can lead to a cognitive narrowing, where the individual is less able to parse data into information and respond to relevant information. Additionally, stress can also lead to physical symptoms such as increased heart rate and sweating, which can make it more difficult for a person to focus and make decisions.
Tunnel Vision in the Outdoors
Cognitive narrowing, also known as "tunnel vision," is a phenomenon in which an individual's attention and perception become highly focused on a specific task or concern, to the point that they are unable to process or respond to other relevant information. This can occur as a result of stress, anxiety, or other emotional states, and can lead to decreased situational awareness, poor decision-making, and other negative outcomes.
It's a form of selective attention, the ability to focus on relevant information while ignoring irrelevant distractions. The cognitive narrowing can be caused by a lot of factors such as, mental overload, sleep deprivation, stress, and intoxication.
Cognitive narrowing can be particularly detrimental to people in the outdoors, as it can lead to a failure to recognize and respond to potential hazards. For example, if an individual is highly focused on reaching a destination or completing a task, they may not pay attention to changes in weather, trail conditions, or other environmental factors that could pose a danger. Similarly, if a person is preoccupied with personal concerns or stressors, they may not notice signs of injury or illness in themselves or their companions.
In the wild, cognitive narrowing can also lead to poor navigation and decision-making. For example, an individual may become fixated on a specific route and fail to consider alternative paths or options, even if they would be safer or more efficient. Additionally, cognitive narrowing can lead to a lack of awareness of one's surroundings, which can lead to getting lost or missing important landmarks, signs, or other information that could help with navigation.
It's important to mention, that cognitive narrowing can also be detrimental to group dynamics, as it can lead to poor communication and coordination among group members. For example, if one person is focused on a specific task or concern, they may not hear or respond to important instructions or warning from other group members.
An easy way to visualize situational awareness as physical spheres that exist at measurable intervals from your body.
How do I overcome Tunnel Vision
It is important for people in the outdoors to be aware of the potential effects of cognitive narrowing and to take steps to manage stress and maintain situational awareness, such as regular breaks, deep breathing exercises, and other relaxation techniques. You also want to make sure you understand the signs of a stress response. Physically speaking a stress response can manifest as anything from clenching of the jaw and a wrinkled brow to sweating, increased heartrate, high blood pressure, and paleness. These effects can turn disastrous when the person feeling high levels of stress is already hot and dehydrated as it can lead to heat related illness and turn from psychological discomfort to a full-blown medical evacuation. Remember when folks are feeling stressed, they may forget to eat or drink water thus the psychological effects of tunnel vision create a negative feedback loop of physiological responses.
So how do we help manage stress responses and decreased situational awareness? Once you identify that a person in the group is experiencing elevated stress levels try some of the following techniques:
Reassure the person that you have their back. You can accomplish this by discussing your safety plan with them in riskier situations or take extra time to physically help them through a stressful situation.
Offer them alternative options when the level of risk increases. For example: boaters can offer to help portage a rapid the person is feeling anxiety about.
Keep a more vigilant eye on the person feeling the stress response.
Point out things of interest that are unrelated to the thing that is creating a stress response. For example, point out a bird or a rare plant to break them out of the tunnel vision they are focusing on.
Take a break. People cannot operate in a high stress environment for long periods of time without experiencing performance failures, so taking a break will give them time to calm down and break their single-minded focus.
Practice breathing techniques. It may sound cliche, but doing a guided breathing exercise can be the first step in bringing down someone’s adrenaline and heightened state of physical response to the stress.
In addition to this you can also check out our spheres of awareness lesson below to gain some more understanding on how to maintain focus and develop the skills to build higher levels of situational awareness.
