Exercise is part of a full-on lifestyle upgrade that should be part of any study program. Exercise does a TON to help ones mental processes, physical perserverance, and health. You got health, you got a lot more than just memorized facts: you've got performance!
Nutrition, Bodywork/Energy work, Sleep, Nutrition are all part of what we do with clients. Our forthcoming GMAT book, in fact, discusses ALL of this...but it's not due in stores for several months...but here is a sneak peak of just one part of our Exercise module:
Physical exercise should be an important part of your test preparation process. Why? Because the benefits or exercise beyond feeling great and looking good include increased ability to cope better with stress as well as improving the brain's functions. In numerous studies, physical activity helps the brain work better. Exercises causes an actual physical and chemical response inside the brain which translates to people being able to perform better than without it. For many GMAT test takers, a life sitting at a desk is the norm, and for the youngest of the test takers, 1-3 years out of college, this more sedentary posture be a departure from a more active life prior. With habits engrained, and the time-demands of the job, implementing a more
active lifestyle may be optimistic and unrealistic - - but inserting even the littlest bit of physical activity can have profound affects on your test performance. Just look at some of the data:
The California Department of Education found in several studies that there was a positive relationship between physical activity and academic performance. Their studies suggested that when a substantial amount of school time is dedicated to physical activity, academic perfor-
mance meets and may even exceed that of students not receiving additional physical activity. Another study measured the cognitive abilities of the participants in four areas: memory, executive functioning, attention/concentration, and psychomotor speed both before enrolling in an exercise study, then four months after. The results proved that those who exercised, demonstrated significant improvements in the higher mental processes of memory and in "executive functions" that involve planning, organization, and the ability to mentally juggle different intellectual tasks at the same time
So while training for the New York, Boston (or insert your city here) Marathon may not be in your near future, you can incorporate small steps to incorporate physical activity to improve your brain health. Now, for those of us pressed for time, let's figure out what kind of physical exercise works best for you.
This is followed by a quiz to determine YOUR best physical activity!
Any questions? Be in touch with me directly as we have Exercise and Peak Performance specialists at TPNY to help our students get stretched out, not stressed out, and transformed for peak GMAT performance.