Nutrition for High Exam Performance!

Exam season is upon us with many sitting exams for school, university, courses or continuing professional development. Exams are often between 1-3 hours and require a lot of focus, concentration and thus a great deal of cognitive function.

How you fuel your body massively impacts for performance not just physically but mentally as well. Here are a few top tips on how to fuel your body for exam performance:

1. Hydration.

Being dehydrated impairs cognitive performance (Maughan & Shirreffs, 2010). Performing in a dehydrated state has shown lapses in concentration, poor decision making and slow reaction time (Maughan & Shirreffs, 2010). In sports this can lead to misplaced passes, ill-timed tackles or late braking, but in the exam hall in could result in rushed answers, poor proof reading or lack of question understanding which all impact upon exam results could. Ensure you are hydrated going into the exam with urine being clear or pale straw colour. Take fluids in with you, and fruit slices or cordial to water if you struggle to drink water alone. Above all, stay hydrated.

2. Eat your breakfast!

Many athletes struggle to consume breakfast when competing due to nerves and GI issues (Holway & Spiret, 2011). Similarly, on the day of an important exam, assessment or big day at work, nerves and butterflies can lead to skipping the first meal of the day. But skipping breakfast increases the likelihood of poor attention, poor alertness and poor memory (Hoyland et al., 2009). All detrimental to learning and academic performance. Common breakfast foods such as milk and cereals are good sources of nutrients that effect brain function.

3. Know your sugars.

Glucose is the primary fuel for brain function. Carbohydrates provide brain fuel via oxidation of glucose. However, no two carbohydrates are the same. Low glycaemic index (GI) carbohydrates, such as bran cereals, skim milk, yoghurt or bananas release sugars slowly into the blood whereas high GI carbohydrates (sports drinks, jelly sweets, white bread) release sugars quickly (Jeukendrup & Gleeson, 2018). High GI carbohydrates cause spikes in blood glucose levels that whereof and dip. Dips in blood glucose have been directly associated with poor memory and attention (Benton, 2001). Adding fibrous or high protein foods to high GI foods such as adding beans or tuna to a jacket potato slows the release of glucose to the blood preventing impaired attention and memory. However, during the final stages of long exams, high GI carbs such as jelly sweets will have their uses for simple, easily digestible sugars to aid brain function quickly.

Your brain can be fuelled for academic performance, just as your body can be fuelled for athletic performance. Prepare for exams as if you were preparing for competition and you will succeed. Best of luck.

References

Benton, D. (2001). The impact of the supply of glucose to the brain on mood and memory. Nutrition Reviews, 59, S20-21

Holway, F.E. and Spriet, L.L., 2011. Sport-specific nutrition: practical strategies for team sports. Journal of sports sciences, 29(sup1), pp.S115-S125.

Hoyland, A., Dye, L., & Lawton, C. L. (2009). A systematic review of the effect of breakfast on the cognitive performance of children and adolescents. Nutrition research reviews, 22(2), 220-243.

Jeukendrup, A. and Gleeson, M., 2018. Sport nutrition. Human Kinetics.

Maughan, R.J. and Shirreffs, S.M., 2010. Dehydration and rehydration in competative sport. Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports, 20, pp.40-47.