EXAM SPECIAL: BRAIN POWER

History remembers Archimedes as the guy who ran naked through the streets of Syracuse shouting “Eureka, Eureka!” when he realized that the water displaced by his body was equal to the weight of his body. Inventor Nikola Tesla engaged in exercises on daily basis to keep his brain active, whereas writers like Virginia Woolf & Lewis Carroll preferred to work standing as they felt that their creativity enhanced when they did work in a standing posture. You will be surprised to know that Steve Jobs, the late co-founder of Apple, was known for his walking meetings, while, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg prefers conducting ‘meetings on foot’.

The point to be noted here is, all these people with outstanding ability pursued a very unique practice. A close watch of their activities reveals that all of them preferred to get engaged in some sort of physical activities to divert their mind and to come up with ‘out of the box’ solutions or creative work. It may be noted that these geniuses pursued these practices, which helped them to engage in diffused mode of thinking leading to an important breakthrough (Diffused mode of thinking happens when you relax your attention and let your mind wander freely, making connections at random).

Students, these practices are very useful to you especially for learning mathematics and science. All the above examples, I have quoted convey that you need to engage in some sort of physical activity to be creative and receptive to new ideas. 

Stanford University researchers found that physical activities including walking boost creative inspiration. If you wish to enhance your memory as well as your ability to learn, the best way to do so is to get engaged in physical exercises regularly.  Recent experiments in this field have also revealed that not only humans but even animals can improve their memory and learning abilities when engaged in regular physical activities. Experiments have shown that regular exercises including walking, help to lift your mood and create new neurons that are related to the memory in your brain, leading to improved ability to understand, remember and recall at a later time,

So, if you need to understand the subject thoroughly and score good marks in the exams, develop the habit of engaging in physical activities like exercises or going for a long walk regularly.

All the best and do well in the exams.

– Prakash Prabhu
[ Mr.Prakash Prabhu works for The Manipal Group as a Senior HR Manager with over 15 years of corporate experience. He has been the lead writer and contributor to CHIRP magazine.(An intra-Manipal group monthly employee magazine) An avid reader who devours one book after another, Mr.Prabhu is also a certified handwriting analyst.]