In the modern day of high school education, students are often stressed about their grades and standardized testing. As they progress into their later years in high school, they often transition into an endless pursuit for academic excellence and begin neglecting a fundamental part of success – exercise. Currently, some rigorous schools do not even offer a designated time for students to get exercise. However, exercise can help students achieve a higher academic performance and physical well-being.
To start off, exercise can improve concentration. Researchers have found that ten minutes of exercise can make the area of the brain that is responsible for concentration much more effective. Exercise can also improve memory and make you more creative, because engaging in physical activity mentally detaches from stressors that are study-related and allows your brain to react.
Speaking of stress, physical activity can decrease stress levels and also creates functional stress that helps students perform better by challenging and motivating them to meet objectives. Moreover, a study done in China showed that exercising can cancel out academic burnout. Academic burnout is a psychological disorder that makes students exhausted emotionally.
It can also make them completely disengaged from learning. However, as physical exercise increased, their burnout rates decreased tremendously. The study also saw that their self-confidence and resilience increased.
So how does someone achieve this?
To start off, you should get involved in organized sports. Not only will this “force” you to exercise, but you may meet new people with similar passions as you and build relationships with them. You should also set exercise goals. Just like academic goals, these are points you should work towards in order to improve your health. They can range from walking every day to school or to reach a certain bench weight.
Sources:
https://post.edu/blog/the-link-between-physical-activity-and-academic-performance/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9691659/
https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-024-18082-z
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