Welcome to Neuro. Or: How My Free Time Flies Out the Window

So, this is the week of our neuroscience exam. Personally, this is the one that I’ve been dreading, and I’m pretty sure that is a sentiment felt throughout my class.  As this is a four-week module, everything has been pretty crammed in (a.k.a. full time studying) but the week or two before the exam tends to be the most hectic.  I’ve found that one of the most important things to do during exam week is to not study. I know this is a point that seems counter intuitive, but over-studying can be a huge issue during exam week.  The human body/brain can only take so many consecutive hours of sitting in a study room learning material before starting to shut down, so destressing is really important.

This week, I did a poll of my classmates to see how everyone is taking time off to de-stress. Here are the results.

Exercising                                            20

Eating                                                  13

Getting Outside                                   10

De-stress?                                             6

Watching TV                                          5

Complaining about how stressed I am  4

Sleeping                                                2

Gaming                                                 1

Assuming everyone answered honestly, you can see that a large majority of my class enjoys exercising and getting outside (however, I suspect there may be some overlap in the top two responses). I was kind of expecting this result though, as I know many of my classmates hit the gym either before or after class or go jogging in the afternoons. While I’m not much for jogging, I do live in a nice neighborhood within walking distance of Cleveland Park so I head down to the park occasionally to people/dog watch. I will admit, however, I am the gamer. I like to take my mind off of school by playing multiplayer games online with friends from back home or undergrad.  It not only distracts me from school for a little while, but gives me a chance to keep up friendships.

So, all in all, I guess the results show that it’s not necessarily how you relax that is important, but that you find a chance to kick back and forget about school (if only for a little while). I think the majority of our class would definitely recommend getting outside and getting active as a great way to not only stay in great shape, but to keep the stress off as well.

Eric Fulmer