When you think of the Leaving Cert, you think of preparing for and running a mental marathon and, as in any marathon, both body and mind are important. There's no use cramming your grey matter with information if the rest of you is falling apart. By looking after both body and mind, holistically, you can improve your memory and attention-span and, ultimately, enjoy the feeling of shining in the exams. A positive mental attitude and a healthy body go a long way when you are under pressure. Self-hypnosis (see panel), Chinese medicine and physiotherapy each have something to offer.
One way to look at the Leaving Cert is to see it as a first chance to learn to harness your talents and cope with stress - life skills that may, in the end, matter more to you than points. The idea is to focus on the here and now, getting the most you can out of every day's study while enjoying relaxing activities that complement the mental effort, rather than nervously anticipating the exams.
Your body and your mind are inter-dependent - treat one badly and the other will suffer. "Long periods of study and stress can cause your energy to become depleted and your defence mechanisms to be stressed and thus more prone to illness," says Oisine Hannan, a chartered physiotherapist in acupuncture in Co Kildare. "We all have different constitutional make-ups and express stress in different ways. One person may become depressed and unable to think clearly, another may get an infection, while others may get muscle strains and pain or migraine. All these problems can become chronic or affect your ability to concentrate and study." While it may sound simplistic, a lot of physical problems result from prolonged hours of sitting and studying. For example, painful muscle spasms in the neck and back can occur when you become tired and tense from sitting.
It's easy to become quite tense without realising it. You need to indulge yourself with a good, catlike stretch, relaxing tense, tight muscles and stimulating blood and lymph flow through the body. This increased blood supply provides the tissues and organs - including the brain - with more oxygen, helping them to function more effectively. With a five- or 10-minute break to do a series of stretches, your whole body can feel better. There's nothing to it, really: stand up and stretch your legs. Then move the neck from side to side and look behind each shoulder, spread your fingers apart, stretch the arms out in front with the hands joined together, shrug your shoulders and to stretch the shoulders, reach up to the ceiling and behind your back.
It's also helpful to learn to stretch spontaneously, throughout the day. Just stretch any particular area of the body that feels tense for a minute or two. This will help to reduce and control unwanted tension and pain. It's also important to practise taking deep, healing breaths. Oisine Hannan recommends this breathing exercise as being particularly good if you are inclined to panic or become anxious.
Practise taking three deep rhythmic breaths frequently every day along with spontaneous stretches for use during an exam. That way, at the first sign of jitters, you will automatically do something positive for yourself. Make gentle exercise a part of your daily routine in the weeks coming up to the exams. When you take a break from the books, take a short walk rather than sitting in front of the television. Regular movement such as a walk and fresh air help keep the body healthy and will help you sleep.
Sleep is essential and you need to sleep regularly and well. Lack of sleep, combined with long hours of study, can lead to difficulty in metabolising food - which you need to boost brain power. You need to eat a balanced diet of three meals a day, full of fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy products, whole grains, pastas and protein sources like meat or - if you are vegetarian - pulses and rice or dairy products combined. Girls particularly need iron to maintain optimum mental agility and many vegetarians do not get enough.
Research has shown that anaemia, a result of low iron-levels, leads to a lower IQ. If you are vegetarian, talk to your GP about your iron levels because you may need supplements. For everyone else, a multi-vitamin pill won't do any harm, as long as it is taken along with - and not instead of - a balanced diet.
When you are studying for long periods the temptation to reach for a chocolate bar or fatty crisps as a way of boosting energy can become irresistible. According to Chinese medicine, however, eating and studying should never be done at the same time because digestion zaps the brain. Indeed, conventional Western medical studies have shown that students who eat while studying do not recall as much the next day.
"Don't study for half an hour before or after eating," says Kerry McBride, a traditional Chinese practitioner in Dublin. "According to Chinese medicine, it takes the same energy to digest ideas as it does to digest food. Taking a break before eating gives the digestive system time to get ready for food. Spend the half hour by going for a walk, taking a hot bath to relax, listening to music or visiting your friends. Do not read while eating and don't eat while reading because you are putting excessive demands on some of your physical functions." "Don't skip meals if you want to have a good memory," she says. "You need a regulated, disciplined regime of three hot meals a day, especially breakfast - the most important meal of the day."
So if your parents are hanging around nagging you to study, tell them that the best thing they can do is to feed you up three times a day. Some Leaving Cert students see McBride for treatment for anxiety; others just need a boost. "If anxieties get to the point where they interfere with sleep, appetite, concentration or memory or cause heart palpitations, then it is probably recommended that a student seek treatment for anxiety prior to the exams," she says. "It can be a shock for people to understand how anxious they actually are.
The Leaving Cert is not just a rite of passage that everybody goes thorough and `if you can't stand up to it what's wrong with you?' It is important to realise that the Leaving Cert is difficult for all people.
Young people need to have the mental and physical maturity to back them up." Even if a person is basically healthy and stress is not affecting them particularly, there are other aspects of Chinese medicine which can be helpful, such as meditation and breathing exercises. There's no mystery to it and McBride suggests that interested students buy a book on Qi (pronounced chee) Gong, available in most bookshops for step-by-step instruction.
The combined wisdom of these alternative practitioners seems to be that if you want to maximise your potential, sitting around in front of the TV eating is not the way to do it. Try to fit gentle exercise, social activities and other types of relaxation into your day between study sessions and eat sensibly.