5 Quick Workouts You Can Do During Exam Season

Different time of the year, exam season. You get on coffee, and you are so broken in terms of sleep, and the last thing that comes to your mind is to get a workout. I understand you, I too have been there. However, here is what I have learned the hard way; the weeks that you will be most likely to skip out on the exercise are also the weeks when your body is in need of it most.

I am not going to tell you to hit the gym for an hour. That is not realistic when it comes to finals. What I will provide you with are five exercises that can be performed in your dormitory, during the periods between the study sessions, with no equipment.

The Real Reason Movement Is Even More Important during Exams.

A study conducted in the British Journal of Sports Medicine is able to establish that a single session of aerobic exercise is able to enhance memory consolidation and cognitive functioning within the hours right after these sessions (Lambourne and Tomporowski, 2010). It translates to the fact that a 10-minute exercise before a study session is literally helping your brain function better.

According to the Canadian Mental Health Association (2023), physical activity also belongs to the number of the most effective natural interventions to be used to deal with the exam-related anxiety, which is something that most students could use significantly.

The 5 Workouts

Exercise 1 - The 10-Minute Morning Warm-Up.

10 push-ups, 15 squats, 20 jumping jacks, 30-second plank. Repeat twice. This will change who you are going to be before you open your laptop in the morning with more power.

Exercise 2 -The Circuit of the Study Break.

One: 20 high knees, 10 tricep dips on your chair, 15 glute bridges on your bed every 45 minutes of studying. Takes 4 minutes and sets your mind back to the point.

Exercise 3 - Walking the Hallway.

This one is too simple and yet effective. Walk in your building or block within 10 minutes. No cell phone, no podcast, just walk. Your nervous system will provide you with gratitude.

Exercise 4 - Desk Stretch Sequence.

Rolling of the neck, shoulder circles, spinal twist seated, stretching of hip flexor against your desk. Perform them for 30 seconds each. This particular one is aimed at individuals who have been sitting at the laptop or computer for more than 6 hours at a time.

Exercise 5 - The Pre-sleep Stretch.

Being relaxed, 10 minutes of light yoga or stretching before bed. This is to notify your body that you are ready to sleep, which is the least used performance tool amongst students.

The Bottom Line

You do not even have to continue with your entire exercise program during exams. The only thing to do is to continue moving. Even 10-15 minutes in a day is sufficient to save your mental condition, help your memory and make sure that your energy doesn't get wasted.

DailyFit11 offers classes (as short as $15) that are structured around the life of a student, and were designed to fit the time constraints of the people who simply do not have time to spend on the traditional gym experience. Book your first class here. One more thing worth mentioning and this is something most fitness advice skips entirely is the role of social accountability during exam season. Texting a friend to do a 10-minute

walk together between study sessions, or even just telling someone your plan out loud, significantly increases your follow-through. Research shows that sharing a goal with even one other person improves completion rates by up to 65% (Matthews, 2015). You don't have to do this alone. Even the smallest workout is more likely to happen when someone

else knows about it. References

Canadian Mental Health Association. (2023). Post-secondary students and mental health. https://cmha.ca Lambourne, K., & Tomporowski, P. (2010). The effect of exercise-induced arousal on cognitive task performance: A meta-regression analysis. Brain Research, 1341, 12–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2010.03.091 Matthews, G. (2015). Goal research summary [Unpublished manuscript]. Dominican University of California. https://www.dominican.edu/sites/default/files/2020-02/gailmatthews-harvard-goals-researchsummary.pdf