Exercise actually helps you study...

For quite a while now, I've been a proponent of the newer educational theories linking physical activity and exercise to improved mental performance. Here's a link to one of my videos on the subject.




Last week the following article quoted Dr John Ratey, who wrote the book "Spark" that I reference in my work. I think the article is worth a read...


“Exercise doesn’t make you smarter…it just makes you normal.” This great quote from John Medina in Brain Rules illustrates the essential role that physical activity plays in maintaining a sharp mind. The brain is best at solving problems related to surviving in an unstable environment, and to do so in nearly constant motion. This is what the brain did for virtually all of human history until we engineered the need for physical activity out of everyday life.


Rush to the Head
Exercise literally increases the blood volume in a region of the brain called the dentate gyrus, a vital part of the hippocampus. Exercise also stimulates BDNF, a protein which exerts a fertilizer-like growth effect on certain neurons. This protein keeps existing neurons young and healthy, rendering them much more willing to connect with one another. It also encourages neurogenesis, the formation of new cells in the brain. The cells most sensitive to this are in the hippocampus, inside the very regions deeply involved to human cognition and memory.
It’s what happens after exercise that optimizes the brain. Exercise increases levels of IGF-1 (a growth hormone), and in the hippocampus IGF-1 increases neuroplasticity (the way we learn associations with things), and neurogenesis. It’s another way exercise helps our neurons bind.
“The way exercise changes our brains is more effective than wine, medicines, and doughnuts,” says John Ratey, author of Spark. But too often, this is what we use to attempt to manage stress.


Find Stress Relief
Stress, lack of exercise, and junk food harms your brain. Stressed brains don’t learn the same way. The hormones released in response to stress are meant for immediate danger response, not chronic stress. Chronic stress makes adrenaline scar blood vessels while cortisol damages the cells of the hippocampus. Since exercise influences metabolism, it serves as a powerful way to influence synaptic function, and thus the way we think and feel.
As hard as it might be right now, instead of wine, medicine and doughnuts, what might be best to deal with stress is to get moving. Even if it’s just taking a short walk. The more you move, the better you’ll feel. Your movement choices don’t have to be exercise or nothing. A little exercise with a lot of movement in general can help you cope with stress – a great coping strategy to have at this time of year.
No matter how sharp or smart you are, your brain gets better with physical activity. It has a 100% effectiveness rate and the side effects are a healthier body as well!"


Great advice and I encourage you to try it for yourself. It will make a difference!

Studying for the bar exam on an iPad

One of the things I hear a lot lately are happy, surprised students who are discovering how much they really, REALLY like studying on their iPad with Celebration Bar Review's iBar program. So, when I saw this article last week about why people are excited about learning content on an iPad I wanted to share it with our readers.


I absolutely agree with the author about the novelty, portability and ease of use with tablets but I would add this about the use of an iPad for the bar - it just makes it all manageable.


Anyone who's received the stacks of bar review books and (in the old days, tapes or CDs) knows how overwhelming the process could be. I'm sure that many people took one look at the box and mentally gave up on their studies. The same for those in classroom courses - too much information, too fast and too many distractions. Not a good way to study productively.


Instead, today with our iBar program, everything you need to study for the test is in the palm of your hand. There's even a study guide book built in to the device!


We were the first bar review to put our course online, the first to use iPods, the first to offer tablet apps and of course, the first to put our entire course catalog on the iPad. We're proud of those firsts because they each represent a focus on the student and the learning rather than the marketing and the hype. If you're looking for a course that knows how to integrate technology and teaching, take a look at our offerings. Like our current students, we think you'll be impressed!

20 Hours a Week

We're now less than 4 months from the Feb 2012 exam and this is a time when I encourage students to actively begin their studies. My suggestion is that a Feb student starting now spend between 10-20 hours per week in study at this point.

Why an upper limit of 20 hours? Shouldn't you spend more, cram more, memorize more, stress more? Isn't that what the bar exam is all about?

Not really. It makes for good drama and a few "sympathy rounds" from friends and family but it's really not necessary to spend more than 20 hours a week studying.

And why that top limit? Well, in my experience, most people can manage up to 20 hours of study time ON TOP OF work, family, church, social commitments and such. Go much beyond that number and you're into full time study mode (which is fine for those just graduating from school but unnecessary and unlikely for everyone else). Above 20 hours a week and you'll burn out or something else will have to go (not a good option for children, spouses and employers!). 

The good news is that 15-20 hours right now is plenty of study time if you know WHAT and HOW to study. As one of my current students who has passed three other bars wrote to me today:

"I have heard numerous people say the couldn't do law school because

they couldn't "memorize all the cases."   When I said that you could sail
through lawschool at the top of your class without knowing the name of more
than a few cases -- Palsgraf, Miranda -- and that you never had to cite them
by name in a test, they probably thought I had smoked my lunch.  It is all
about thinking like a lawyer, I tell them, and it is that style of thinking
that makes people hate lawyers."

He's right. You don't need to memorize for the bar exam either and that's why a "smart" course won't push you to memorize and recite and spend more than 20 hours per week trying to cram it in when it's not necessary. Just something to think about today...