Written by: Anna Pasternak / Communication and Anxiety / July 29, 2020 / 10 minutes read

Tension can show up anywhere in the body. Today we will discuss how tension can affect your speech and language, and what the impact of tension may be. 

Tension can arise at various times during speech and most often this may happen when we are stressed or anxious.  When feeling nervous or stressed during speech our body may tense up in various areas including: the shoulders, chest, stomach, neck, tongue, lips and/or vocal folds. With added tension this can affect our speech output in a way that you may experience moments of dysfluency, and not getting our thoughts out clearly and concisely. The moment of dysfluency may appear due to tension in the speech apparatus which may cause dysfluencies for certain speech sounds or when transitioning from one speech sound to the next. When we are tense we are often also not breathing effectively which creates even more tension, and hinders us from thinking clearly as we are too worried about what is stressing us out as opposed to forming clear thoughts to communicate to others. Some people may find themselves not being able to communicate their thoughts clearly, or find the right words to express themselves. Tension and inappropriate breath support could just be adding to the problem. 

Tension can also affect our non-verbal communication which can take away from communicating assertively. When we communicate passively or aggressively this can be shown through various points of tension in our bodies such as our tense forehead or clenched jaw when angry or annoyed. Keeping arms and legs tightly crossed together can send the message that we are uncomfortable. Communicating effectively with others is to communicate assertively through our words and most importantly through our non-verbal communication. In order to become a good assertive communicator you have to be able to control the tension you may feel during times of disagreement or misunderstandings. Maybe you are communicating assertively with your words but your body language is coming off aggressive, which will skew the meaning of the message from your actual intensions. We have to learn how to identify tension when we are angry or stressed, as when we are aware of our bodies and what is going on during difficult moments, only then can we work on easing that tension. 

There are many different ways we can help ease tension and this can differ for every individual. 

Different strategies that can help ease tension : exercise, doing yoga, meditating, guided visualization, slow breathing, progressive muscle relaxation or massage. Some people may have their own activities they do to help relieve stress I know that I find kickboxing to be my stress reliever! 

A progressive muscle relaxation exercise that is discussed by the Center of Clinical Interventions (2019) is :  

1. Stand up. 

2. Lips closed, jaw relaxed, breathe slow and low down in your stomach 

3. Breathe in for 2 seconds and out for 3 seconds. Be aware of your breathing for the whole exercise and keep it slow and deep. 

4. Cross one of your legs over the other leg, keeping your feet firmly planted on the ground. Try to place your feet even with each other. 

5. Put both your hands behind your back and grasp your hands. Now twist your hands so that your palms are now facing the floor. 

6. Keeping your hands together and your arms straight, gently raise your arms toward your head. 

7. Notice the increase in tension in ALL of your different muscles. Hold all this for a count of five.

8. Now uncross your legs and return your arms to your sides. Take two or three breaths to let go of the tension. 

9. Repeat steps 3-8 until you feel relaxed. 

Here is also an example of a breathing exercise to help ease stress and tension in the body:

1. Take a medium sized breath in, hold it and count to 6.

2. When you get to 6 breathe out. Releasing tension as you are breathing out. 

3. Next breathe in for 3 seconds and out for 3 seconds.

4. After 10 breaths hold your breath again for 6 seconds, think “relax”, breathe out, and then continue breathing in the six-second cycle for another minute. ( this can be repeated as many times as you need until you are feeling less anxious.) 

To speak with one of the speech-language pathologists at Well Said: Toronto Speech Therapy, schedule an initial consultation by clicking the link below or calling (647) 795-5277.