Free at Last, Free at last, Thank God Almighty: I am free at last (Final Report)

Final Progress Report

Overall, I'd say my project was a success. When I say this, it doesn't mean I met my goal, or I got a certain achievement. No, it means I did what I wanted to do. My project revolved researching the effects of exercise on study habits and knowledge retention, and then trying it out for myself. The purpose of the TED talk was to pass that experience on to those who heard it (and still can if you check the page called "TED talk"), along with some advice on what to do or not do.

Here's what I've learned about myself: I have undergone a fundamental change in the way that I view not just exercise and studying, but many other fields of work as well. Everything is connected, no matter how small the link may be, and although exercise and studying may seem like two opposite things,one of which we associate with jocks and the other with nerds, I've learned to begin linking many different things to get the most I possibly can out of both my education and life in general.

After this study, a few questions have arisen for me. I know exercise can lead to neural cell creation, growth, and development, but HOW????? This avenue of questioning will no doubt be in the back of my mind, and I will continue to go down these branching set of questions as I continue on in college. If I had more time, I would see if I could rope other people onto it, and have them do it in their own special way, and document what they did, how they did it, and whether their strategies worked. I would also have others follow my way of doing things and see if I can get similar results on that end.

In terms of my TED talk

1. I felt that my TED talk went rather well. I got all the content I wanted out, even though I had to speak quickly due to the time constraint. I was bummed out that there wasn't time for questions, as I'd have loved to answer them, and even receive some criticism on how to improve not only my presenting technique, but also my research technique, and what I could have done in order to better document my study.

2. I didn't prepare much for my TED talk. I essentially made my presentation around what I wanted to say, and then I took quick notes on a piece of paper that I could refer to If I ever got lost. The rest was just me winging it. While giving it, I was slightly nervous, and I spoke a little too quickly, but overall I think I did well and got my point across. People chuckled when they were supposed to and paid attention when necessary, at least from my point of view.

3. From this experience, I've learned that it is actually much harder to conduct a study and present the findings in front of your peers than to simply write a speech and read it off, or do one of these studies with a group. I also learned that once you have an idea, you should stick with it and try not to deviate too far from your original idea. Otherwise, you'll go nowhere in your research, or rather, you'll go in circles.

Yippity yippity yip that's all folks. Have a great summer vacation.

Surprising Results

Last time, I noted that I was going to change the subject of my study from simply exercising to analyzing the effect of physical activity on studying and knowledge retention.

So far, I think I was right to do that.

Seeing as it's near the end of April, and finals and AP tests are right around the corner, I've been testing the effects of rigorous and "slow" endurance based exercises to see which one works better. I can quickly conclude that heavy and highly draining "extreme" exercises are not good for studying afterwords, for me at least. As I heard on the radio, it takes about 7 minutes for the body to release the hormones that increase body and brain function, as well as spark the burning of adipose and glycogen. Technically, one could stop at this point and start studying, but if you want, you can actually go on for a full workout and there will still be enough "juice" in your system to buff your brain function during studying.

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Now, after a few AP tests and finals have passed, I can say for certain that this has helped to an almost frightening degree. I originally thought the body would have to grow used to this kind of activity before it started producing visible results, but that idea was thrown out the window after the first test I took merely a day or two after my change in study.

Conclusion: Oh my god yes, this works great. Do it. Seriously. It's kinda wierd how "on point" your body can be and how quickly you get used to this kind of schedule.