You can gain these cognitive benefits from as little as 10 minutes of exercise prior to your exam. An experimental study of the impact of exercise on students’ focus found that experimental subjects increased their cognitive functioning by as much as 14% after a 10-minute “burst." So, though you may not be able to maintain your regular exercise routine during reading period and finals, you may want to keep your routine but reduce the amount of time. Additionally, you can still get some of the benefits of exercise to your mental efficiency by exercising right before your test. Find the nearest set of stairs or find another way to get your heart rate and cognitive functioning-up! Try it out and see for yourself.

Learn to breathe more intentionally and effectively with these exercises.