How Psychology Changed Your Life?

Psychology can improve your relationships, heal emotional wounds, and help you face difficult situations. But did you know that psychology can even save your life? There's a lot you might not know about how the human mind can put you in danger or help you escape it. Here are some psychological truths that could save your life.

1. Other People Will Understand It

Imagine you're walking through a parking lot and you bump into someone. You apologize, but the other person doesn't want to accept your apology. Suddenly, they grab you by the shoulders and forcefully push you to the ground. Talk about an overreaction! Luckily, it's a crowded area, so someone will help before the conflict escalates, right? Unfortunately, there's something called the bystander effect, which explains that the more bystanders there are in a crisis, the less likely they are to intervene. They assume that someone else will help, so they don't have to.

A 2019 study tracked hundreds of bystanders in CCTV footage of violent incidents in Copenhagen. Researchers found that additional bystanders reduced the chances of intervention, especially if they were strangers. They are not heartless; it's just easy to think "Someone else will do it" when you're in a large crowd. In an emergency, you can trigger a response by pointing at individual bystanders and assigning them specific actions, such as calling the police, making it their personal responsibility. This truth could help save someone's life, including yours.

2. The Call Came from Inside the House

If I asked you to imagine a dangerous person, who would you picture? A masked person lurking in the shadows at night, or one of your loved ones? You decide who you trust every day, but according to FBI profiler Mary Ellen O'Toole, our intuitions about who is dangerous are not always accurate. We tend to be suspicious of strangers and people who act strangely, while giving a free pass to acquaintances and people who seem normal. It's actually more likely to be harmed by people we know.

O'Toole points out that almost every time the FBI uncovers a violent criminal or serial killer, the dangerous individual is friendly and outgoing, lives a seemingly normal suburban lifestyle, has a family, and has a respectable reputation in their community. No one suspects anything. Take Jeffrey Dahmer as an example—a normal and reserved guy, right? To help us identify dangerous individuals, O'Toole lists several warning signs: impulsive behavior without regard for consequences, excessive anger, narcissism, lack of empathy, and holding grudges for many years. A single trait or action does not automatically mean a person is dangerous, but if they show a pattern of these behaviors, you may need to pay attention.

3. Forced Reset

If you were too drunk to legally drive, would you still get behind the wheel, make an important decision, or send an important email? Hopefully, you would avoid such high risk. But if you don't have a consistent sleep schedule, you're actually doing something risky without even realizing it. If you don't get enough sleep each night, your body becomes flooded with stress hormones, and your brain function declines.

A study published in the journal Nature examined the alertness of people who were sleep deprived and compared it to those who were drunk while performing basic hand-eye coordination tasks. After 24 hours without sleep, their alertness dropped to a level equivalent to that of people with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.10% (0.08 is the legal limit). In other words, staying up all night slows your brain down to the same level as being too drunk to drive. According to the National Sleep Foundation, teenagers need 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night, and adults need 7 to 9 hours. Sleep has a significant impact on memory, cognition, concentration, mood, and accident rates.

Next time you want to stay up late, save yourself from the next day's disaster by using the military sleep method to quickly fall asleep and refresh your body and mind. First, get into a comfortable position and exhale slowly while releasing tension in your muscles. Relax your shoulders to loosen your arms and hands. Continue inhaling and exhaling, and flex your toes. Finally, clear your mind and imagine that you are lying in a canoe on a calm lake. If thoughts come to mind, repeat “don't think” until they disappear. With enough practice, you'll be able to sleep like a pro.

4. Stay Calm and Carry On

If you've ever had a panic attack, you already know how it feels. If not, set the scene: your heart is pounding, you're sweating all over, you can't breathe but at the same time you're breathing too fast, and you can't control your thoughts. Panic attacks are not pleasant, and they can often occur in stressful situations where thinking clearly is essential.

If a panic attack has started, you may not be able to contact your therapist or remember coping techniques. So how can you help prevent the attack? You may be surprised by the answer. In a study conducted by NYU School of Medicine and Boston University, participants with panic disorder were instructed to suppress their emotions or accept them. Ironically, using the coping strategies you were taught during a panic attack only makes things worse. These techniques draw attention to your internal anxiety, making the attack more intense. Using acceptance techniques significantly reduces anxiety and avoidance. Instead of seeing a panic attack as a problem to be controlled, you can simply acknowledge that it is happening, acknowledge it in your mind or out loud, and accept that this is temporary and that these feelings will pass.