Enhance your memory

Jul 22, 2002

Let us talk about exam times. Exam times, now? Yes, now. During exam times, students tend to spend late nights revising or cramming. They often miss meals substituting them with sodas, colas, sumbusas tea, chips and other junk foods

NutritionWith Grace CanadaLet us talk about exam times. Exam times, now? Yes, now. During exam times, students tend to spend late nights revising or cramming. They often miss meals substituting them with sodas, colas, sumbusas tea, chips and other junk foods. Students go to these extremes in effort to do well at exams. Ironically, lack of adequate sleep, poor nutrition combined with caffeine and sugary refined foods can adversely affect mental and physical performance. It is no wonder that some otherwise bright students end up performing below potential at exams.Let us look at how sleep and nutrition affect the mind.
  • “Sleep” is a biological state and a behavioural state in which we are quiet, and relatively unresponsive to external circumstances. The quietness provided by sleep is absolutely necessary for the proper function of your child’s mind and body. According to research, when we do not get enough sleep, we feel less alert, we become tired and confused. Lack of adequate sleep also affects our mental and social functioning. Sleep deprivation over prolonged periods is known to cause behaviour similar to that of madness in a normal person. For clear thinking and good memory your child needs adequate sleep every night. Sleep patterns vary according to age. At age six, children may require 10 to 12 hours of sleep. This amount declines gradually to about nine hours by the time a child reaches age 12.
  • Diet is strongly related to mental functioning. Poor nutrition greatly affects learning and memory. Therefore, if your child does not eat the foods needed to supply a steady flow of energy, the brain is the first to suffer. Hence it is important to discourage your child from substituting snacks for meals especially during exam times. The energy supplied by the mentioned foods and beverages gets used up in the body very fast causing the blood sugar level to drop. If the blood sugar level is low, the brain does not get enough glucose for its proper functioning. Furthermore, the caffeine contained in colas, cocoa, chocolate, tea and coffee, can cause sleeplessness or poor sleep. As such it can easily increase the level of anxiety in an already anxious child about the up-coming exams. With your help, it is within in your child’s power to eliminate these undesirable practices. Work with your child on defining time for sleep and schoolwork. Recommendations:
  • Include in your family meals memory enhancing foods such as soya bean products, whole wheat bread, millet and maize flour No.2, porridge, avocado, ripe bananas, yoghurt, groundnuts, fish, beef without fat, low fat milk, eggs, green vegetables and fruit.
  • Encourage your child to drink six to eight glasses of water daily. This helps to avoid dehydration which can affect thinking.
  • Avoid fatty foods just before an exam or a study session. Digesting fat is a laborious process for the body and takes much longer.
  • To accomplish the task of digesting fat, blood is diverted from other organs to the stomach. Consequently, blood flow is reduced in brain. As such, poor concentration may occur after eating a meal containing a lot of fat.
  • Pre-exam meals should contain only a small amount of carbohydrate. High amounts of carbohydrate can make your child sleepy.
  • Try a peanut butter sandwich made with whole wheat bread, a banana plus a glass of water or milk. Or a piece of roasted sweet potato, a cup of yoghurt, banana.Remember that breakfast is a must each and everyday!Write to: Grace Canada, c/o Education Vision, P.O. Box 9815, Kampala.
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