A
good breakfast can help students score better in the coming examinations.
Evidence
suggests that eating breakfast really does help students learn. After fasting
all night, the brain needs a fresh supply of glucose — or blood sugar. That's
the brain's basic fuel.
"Without
glucose," explains Terrill Bravender, professor of Pediatrics at Duke
University, "our brain simply doesn't operate as well. People have
difficulty understanding new information; they have a problem with visual and
spatial understanding, and remembering."
Haven’t
we all had the experience of our brains struggling desperately to get that
crucial name, term or date during the exam, which we had known till yesterday?
Slips in calculation are more frequent when the brain runs without enough fuel.
Dozens
of studies from as far back as the 1950s have consistently shown that children
who eat breakfast perform better academically than those who don't. In a recent
study of 4,000 elementary school students, researchers measured the effects of
eating breakfast by administering a battery of attention tests. To measure
short-term memory, researchers read a series of digits out loud — 5, 4, 2 and
so on — and asked the children to repeat them. The children were scored on how
many digits they could remember correctly. To test verbal fluency, the kids
were asked to name all the animals they could think of in 60 seconds. Across
the board, breakfast eaters performed better than those children who had skipped
breakfast.
Does
it then matter what we eat for breakfast?
Most
experts recommend non-sugared cereals made up of complex carbohydrates that
have low glycemic index.
The
glycemic index is a measure of how quickly the carbohydrates in food are
absorbed into our bodies and converted to fuel. When it comes to sustained brain
power, food that is low on the scale — such as whole grains — is preferable.
Even though a bowl of sugary cereal and a bowl of old-fashioned oatmeal or
chapatti may have the same number of carbohydrates, they have very different
glycemic loads.
Sugary
food, such as sweetened custard or milk shake, get into your body quickly and
cause a peak in blood-sugar levels, but the levels then fall dramatically after
two hours or so. Oatmeal or bread, composed of complex carbohydrates mixed with
fibre, on the other hand, release energy slowly, producing a steady rise in
blood sugar and providing enough energy to last through the morning.
What's
more, complex carb eaters don't experience a steep drop in blood-sugar levels
that can bring with it a release of hormones that affect mood, concentration
and memory.
An
examination is not just about what you know, but what and how you can recall,
apply and put that across on that day. Intelligent students therefore, realize
the importance of strategizing and enhancing their performance.
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