Physical activity

It might, for some, seem wired to do physical activity when you are trying to get super good at mathematics, as the trick would be to just sit down and do maths, but there is so much evidence that supports the theory that physical activity and exercise increases your cognitive abilities. As a matter of fact, it has a number of other benefits that help you live your best life. Of course , first and most importantly, it is proved that physical activity will have a number of positive outcomes on your brain, like better concentration, memory, mental health and generally better performance. Here, it is important to note that better mental health and concentration will lead to being able to maths for longer, not just in amount of hours, but also years. While just better memory is not that essential in maths, good working memory is quite important, which will also get better by doing physical activity. Your performance can be many things, but in short, it has a direct correlation to how well you do in something, of what is a goal for maths.

In addition to physical activity being good for your brain, it is also essential for a good life physically. If you live with constant bodily distractions, it will get difficult to focus on doing maths. hen you do physical activity, you exercise multiple parts of your body making them more resilient to various of things. It will also make life better as you grow older, and in addition to that, it will increase your lifespan. Since so many people are growing older and older, the hospitals and retirement homes will get more crowded leading to doctors and caretakers being overloaded. By doing physical activity throughout your life, you will be more resilient to problems as an older individual. This will take immense load of the workers in hospitals and retirement homes

For adolescents (age of 6-17) the recommended time of moderate to intense activity is 60 minutes per day, and for most adults (over age 17, up till, let's say 60) it is 150-300 per week. For an IB student, this might be far-fetched at times, but it is important to remember that the recommended time is 60 min per day, it is not required. That being said, on days where you have the chance to for example go for a short jog, do that. ,You might not have time for 60 minutes, but at least being active has an effect that will massively help your brain and body. You can also write this up as CAS, which is required for the IB diploma.

If you struggle to figure out what to do or struggle starting, we have some tips for you. An idea for what to do is to join some sort of organized sport (or sports club) like football (soccer and American football), orienteering, athletics (so many different "sub" sports), table tennis, handball, a combat sport, etc. Aside form this you might want to get bigger and stronger muscles, so you could start working out. You could maybe also ask someone else to be active with you, maybe making a plan for when to do your activity. This is also great if you struggle to begin or even get out of your house. By setting a sort of plan or deadline for when you should be active, you will feel like you have to do it, which might feel like forcing yourself, but that is sort of needed to a certain degree. This is also the great thing about being apart of some sports club, and training with other people that way (in lessons for example): you feel like you have to do go. And if you don't like being active around other people, you can do individual stuff, of which will require more of you forcing yourself, but just think of it as fun and being good for both your brain and body. Think of it like your career depends on it, or not. Running is great here, but if you feel like running is (for example) a bit slow and tedious, you can pick up bicycling, or a personal recommendation: kick biking. 

There is also something else you can do. If you have a VR system or something else that records motion, you could be physically active like that, for example playing beat sabre. Just always remember that you are doing physical activity both for yourself and others (for the aforementioned reason, in "Why you should do physical activity") and there is a good feeling wating for you at the end of your session.