Ways To Maximize Brain Function Before an Exam.

Do right things before and during an exam to help maximize your brain's concentration and efficiency, under pressure, under the assumption that you are also academically prepared. These tips are ridiculously simple. No extra brain power required. They're not profound. They're not miracle workers. But they can very well make the difference between a B plus and an A minus. If that's the kind of thing you're looking for. They will work in almost all environments. 

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First tip is to drink one to two sips of water before and during an exam. The brain itself is made up of about eighty percent water. Studies have shown that even mild dehydration can impair your long term memory recall. In other words, the way in which you access everything that you have studied over the past week or last night, your clarity, your cognitive response time because exams are timed. Prolonged dehydration can actually cause brain cell size to decrease over time. So, that's pretty insane, we don't want that. Drink a couple of sips of water right before the exam. Anytime you feel your brain getting tired or fuzzy during the exam, take another one to two sips, it'll wake you right up unless you did an all-nighter. In which case it can't help you there. In fact, nobody can help you. Just don't do all-nighters don't do it. 

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Second tip is to stretch your arms upward and outward before and during an exam. We all know that blood flow is important for brain and bodily function. This very simple movement of stretching your arms upward and outward has been shown to increase blood flow to the brain, thereby oxygen oxygenating it. Imperative to your brain's function, greater brain oxygenation helps with better clarity, memory recall helping you to think in general, better response time, better concentration things like that. Stretching also increases our serotonin levels. Serotonin is responsible for regulating your attention, decreasing anxiety and actually increasing your levels of optimism. Who doesn't want the confidence and the clarity and the optimism, especially when tackling like an ambiguous multiple choice question or an especially cumbersome like free response question which is everyone's favorite. However, if you think that this movement of stretching and this is like a little bit too excessive or you're like tightly packed and like the in person environment, roll your shoulders backwards and stretch your neck from side to side and that does wonders. Remember, increased blood flow is your brain's best friend. 

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Third tip, go for a walk right before your exam. This light exercise will help increase dopamine levels which improves sharpness and focus. It increases endorphins, thereby decreasing anxiety levels and increased blood flow. That will improve clarity, memory, recall. So doing a swift walk, even better take a friend and practice or like go over some terms or concepts with them. As you're walking five to ten minutes is more than enough. If you are already set up in the exam room and you're like your stuff  is already there. Just excuse to go to the restroom before the exam. Of course go into the restroom in the neighboring building, wouldn't go in the one in the same building for five to seven minutes. They will pump you up and they will like hype you up and it'll boost your confidence a little bit which is really important. Don't dive right into your exam just take like two to three minutes. You don't want your brain to confuse your elevated heart rate with anxiety. So just take a little bit of time to cool down. 

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Tip number four is drink green tea in the very morning of your exam. It is generally advised to avoid caffeine right before an exam. Caffeine is a wonderful drug when used wisely and you don't want to overload on the anxiety or even worse overload on the sugar. But green tea unlike coffee and all of those other legally addictive stimulants out there will not give you anxiety. Anxiety, in fact the caffeine in combination with the l-theanine will induce within you a state of calm and focus. It'll also reduce your anxiety unlike coffee and will increase your brain cognition and function. So, bottom line instead of reaching for your coffee or your fizzy drinks, drink one to two cups of green tea. 

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Tip number five, take one to do deep breaths before and during your exam. This is by far the fastest and easiest tip on the list. Deep breathing will lower blood pressure, increase energy levels, decrease anxiety and self-doubt. That's important, increase relaxation and focus. It can actually go so far as to relieve any physical pain. You might have it just goes to show how important oxygen is for your brain. When you feel like you've been sitting around for too long or you're coming across harder and harder test questions and you just need like the quickest reset on the face of the Earth, one to two deep breaths, it works every time. Don't do it too much though because that's called hyperventilating and that is not conducive to a calm and focused environment. 

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Those are simple tips that work for someone who is extremely anxious and prone to a lot of test taking anxiety. For sure all of these together are just an absolute killer combo one used to complement studying. Of course, I strongly encourage to do all five of these. The next time you have an exam.

Please comment below if you have any other techniques. Like mind body techniques that you like to use. I'm very curious. Thank you

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