Upcoming finals may be the top concern of many college students this week. So much so that few give much thought to things like food or sleep, other than what is minimally needed to sustain them through several days of cramming.
Many students said they rely on favorite snack foods or caffeinated beverages to get them through the end of the semester.
Stacey Troy, a sophomore majoring in actuarial sciences, said for her it is the latter.
“Monster and coffee, that’s pretty much all I eat and drink finals week,” Troy said.
Mike Falco, a junior majoring in accounting, said he likes to snack on pound cake when he has to pull an all-nighter.
“Pound cake plus Bartle all night equals decent grades,” Falco said.
Danny Singer, a junior majoring in biology, said he eats lots of cereal and junk food at this time of year and generally tends to over-eat when it comes to study snacks.
“I eat anything,” Singer said. “I eat a lot. I eat a lot more than I usually do.”
Jasmin Brown, a junior double-majoring in biology and Spanish, said she eats the same food for “breakfast, lunch and dinner” while studying.
“Microwave popcorn and Arnold Palmer,” Brown said. “The pop-up bowls are my best friend.”
But the best foods to eat while studying or on the day of a test are ones high in protein, according to an article on www.eHow.com.
“Fill yourself with protein-rich foods like eggs, nuts, yogurt and cottage cheese during breakfast and lunch on the day of the test,” the eHow article stated. “The benefits will last throughout the day.”
The eHow article also cautioned that students should “drink plenty of water to keep hydrated” and “moderate … drinking during exams” to be in the best possible state for test-taking.
Contrary to the diets many students follow when studying for exams, an article by Willow Lawson in Psychology Today stated that “alcohol, caffeine and sugar all appear to lessen the effects of some neurotransmitters in the brain.”
Lawson’s article also agreed that “proteins keep the mind working smoothly and properly.”
“Eating protein raises the levels of another amino acid called tyrosine, which prompts the brain to manufacture norepinephrine and dopamine, other kinds of chemical messengers in the brain,” the article stated.
Lawson’s article also states that norepinephrine and dopamine keep a person energized because they promote both alertness and activity.