Weird Ways to Maximize Your Thinking
You’ve studied for days, maybe weeks, in advance for your test. Now it’s time to prime your brain to think the best that it can. While these strange tricks can’t replace your studying, they may give your brain that extra boost when it matters.
1. Holding In Your Pee
First of all, it is not healthy for you to hold in your pee repeatedly and for too long. Doing so can put you at risk of urinary problems, including infections and bladder issues.
However, some scientists have found that ‘practicing bladder gymnastics’ may not be entirely negative.
When given a choice between quick rewards and larger, delayed rewards, participants who were experiencing urinary urgency were more likely to choose the latter. Moreover, when participants were tasked with naming a color based on the word and not the color of the text, participants who were holding their pee responded faster than those who weren’t. However, those who needed to pee had a higher mean score, yet a higher chance of making errors within the test.
Despite this, some have concluded that people who had a “stronger urgency to void” had poorer reaction times in a simple reaction test than those who had empty bladders.
Nevertheless, scientists have found that the bladder is more connected to the brain than we might have initially thought. A review of brain-bladder control has found that the urge to pee stimulates the prefrontal cortex, mid-cingulate, and frontal regions—all of which are involved in higher-level control and decision-making—improving certain aspects such as cognitive control and attention.
2. Chewing Gum
Chewing does not just affect what's going on in your mouth; it may also influence your brain. Of course, you wouldn’t want to keep eating just to stay alert, so researchers investigated whether chewing something repeatedly, like gum, can produce similar results.
An analysis of 22 studies regarding chewing and its connection to alertness, cognitive function, and attention shows that 14 of the studies reported a positive effect on thinking, improved attention, and alleviation of sleepiness.
Another study evaluated the impact of chewing on test scores, comparing 79 physiology and math students against their non-chewing peers. In both tests, participants who were chewing gum outperformed those who were not; for math students, alertness increased even after the test. However, other researchers have concluded that while it may improve alertness and thinking, it may not improve memory, suggesting that chewing gum may help people stay focused without necessarily improving their memory or retention.
Even if chewing may not always give the results you intend, your next brain boost might be right outside your window.
3. Looking Outside
The simplest, most effective way to get that extra knowledge mid-test might just be to stare outside and hope the answer comes to you. Thankfully, it just might work.
One explanation for this comes from the Attention Restoration Theory, which proposes that exposure to nature can help restore directed attention after periods of mental fatigue.
Researchers examined how different classroom views affected high school students. 94 students were assigned to classrooms with no windows, windows facing urban environments, and windows facing nature. After classwork, students had a break in their assigned classrooms and were given an attention test right after. It was found that students who were placed in a classroom overlooking nature performed better than those of the other two groups.
The thing you’re looking at may also improve your attentiveness. In another study, participants were asked to look at a photograph of greenery and urban areas for six minutes. Participants who looked at nature had better attention compared to those who looked at urban landscapes, suggesting brief exposure to nature may help restore attention. Other studies asked university students to complete a mentally draining task, then were shown either nature scenes, urban scenes, or no scenery. The students who spent time looking at nature performed better in short-term and working memory tests compared to the other participants.
So maybe in your next test, ask your teacher to open a few blinds and watch the trees call out the answers!
So what's the verdict?
These methods may improve attention, alertness, and decision-making, but they won’t magically give you the information you never learned in the first place. So if you didn’t study for a test, holding your pee while chewing gum and looking at a tree won’t give you a passing grade.
At the end of the day, there isn’t a magical code that will turn you into Einstein overnight. Holding your pee might make you decide better; chewing gum might help you stay alert; and looking outside might give you some time to rest, but none of them can replace actual studying. However, if you find yourself staring blankly at a test page, maybe your brain just needs a quick break.
References
https://bjui-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bju.12224
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/nau.24201
https://academic.oup.com/brain/article-abstract/124/2/369/402283?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1751494/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4449948/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20132649/
https://www.ecehh.org/research/attention-restoration-theory-a-systematic-review/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0169204615002571?via%3Dihub
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4929355/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9819488/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167268125004755/
