A lot of research has been carried out to discover the true relationship between physical activities and the subsequent level of concentration while studying; that is, whether doing exercise has a significant effect on one’s studying abilities. Generally, statistics have shown that physical work-outs do have positive effects on studies, especially to those who exercise regularly.
In order to find out the degree of correlation with Postechians (only undergraduates), students were asked to participate in a survey regarding the aforementioned relationship, which was carried out from Apr. 16-18. Questions in the survey included gender, personal history of exercising, frequency of exercising per week, length of work-out, types as well as strenuousness of exercises, and how these factors enhance or deteriorate their studying abilities. A total of 120 undergraduates (those who do not exercise could not take part in the survey) -79% male and 21% female- responded to the survey.
Regarding their personal history of exercising, 39% said one year and above, 34% said one month to one year and the rest (27%) said less than a month. This data shows that Postechians who took part in the survey are mostly those who have been doing regular exercises for over half a year. This suggests that the effect of physical exercises on studies stands out more in the long run. Furthermore, it was found that 39% of respondents do sports (tennis, basketball etc.) while 31% and 30% do anaerobic (chest press, push up, etc.) and aerobic (running, jogging, etc.) exercises, respectively. Finally, 59% of students responded that their level of concentration, in terms of studying, increased after doing exercises.
In the free response section of the survey, the majority of students commented that doing regular exercises has indescribable positive effects on academic performances. They said that there is a point where a person’s level of concentration falls dramatically while studying in a library or a room, but this problem can be solved simply by going out for an hour of exercise, which in turn increases studying efficiency. In addition, several students described physical exercises as refreshing, as long as these exercises are not too vigorous. While positive comments correlate with statistical data, a small percentage of students claimed that doing late exercises in the evening have disastrous effects on one’s condition, causing one to doze off or fall asleep the next day.
Even though there were only 120 respondents who took part in the survey, it was shown that the result of the survey corresponds to the general research done by other organizations; that is, doing exercises does improve studying efficiency and increase the level of concentration while studying. Perhaps the shortcut to excellent academic performance is not the length of time spent in the library studying, but rather the level of concentration within a short period of time, achieved by doing regular mild exercises during spare time.