By Victor Ochieng’
During homestretch, KCSE and KCPE candidates go through a lot of pressure due to plenty of programmes in schools. The closeness to the final exams causes tension to tighten like brittle ropes.
As someone who interacts with candidates on a grand scale, I must admit: steaming off sessions are necessary for candidates. As schools pile pressure on candidates to entice peak performance, it is advisable to explore stupendous strategies that can help candidates steady their nerves and be in good shape – mentally and physically.
Foremost, aerobic forms of exercise are very useful. No wonder, it is wrong for candidates to sit for long hours without engaging in vigorous forms of exercise that can permit them sweat profusely and allow blood to flow in their bodies like rivers. Biology teaches us that blood is the vehicle that transports oxygen around the body. When the human heart pumps blood to the brain, it enhances oxygenation in the body. In a larger sense, brain and body agrees with Gestalt Theory, which states, “the whole of anything is greater than its parts”. No wonder, the mind and body should work in a picture-perfect format. Somewhat, psychology and physiology are close cognates. When the mind is weak or sick, it trickles down to the body and vice versa.
In actual sense, candidates should not be compelled to engage in physical forms of exercise, as it is the norm in some schools. Instead, they should see sense in it and swing to action in post-haste.
Psychologists posit that for the sake of wellness, we should allot at least 20 minutes, three times a week, to engage in physical forms of exercise that allow blood to circulate with vim and vigour.
Students are teenagers replete with energy, enthusiasm and ebullience. No wonder, schools should explore multiple ways of helping candidates expend excess energies. In case we deny them chances to steam off, sometimes they become irrational and irritable. This is what sometimes causes chaos, a spate of strikes and unrest in schools.
Again, apart from the brilliant thought of steaming off, physical exercise also enhances mental health in a myriad ways. In Best Counselling Practices, people can manage and mitigate all types of stress – eustress (positive) or distress (negative) – through aerobics and yoga. Well-thought-out therapeutic exercises beat depression and arrest suicidal thoughts. Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles write right about such fantastic facts in a heroic book titled Ikigai: the Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life.
As schools pile pressure on candidates to entice peak performance, it is advisable to explore stupendous strategies that can help candidates steady their nerves and be in good shape – mentally and physically.
Consequently, without useful rest in form of exercises, candidates can experience serious burnout. When they completely fail to engage in physical exercises, they will not be as fit as a fiddle and sound like a bell. Strength and stamina will also be scarce like rain in the desert. No wonder, some candidates look lazy, lackadaisical, weak and sick all the time.
There are those candidates who look tired in the morning, during the day and at night. Such ilk of learners also suffer from fatigue during weekends. Most of the time, they behave that way because of the rigmarole of academic work void and devoid of steaming off sessions.
In addition, physical exercises can take different forms. Teachers can make good use of regular Physical Education (PE) lessons, occasional entertainment sessions, daily games time and moments of Self Directed Activities (SDA). Candidates can steam off by taking twilight treks, running around the field, prancing and dancing to music. Getting a team building coach to take them through innovative and creative activities with lessons is of essence. We should never forget: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Or all work and no play, makes Jill a dull girl. It is unfortunate that most of us only focus on: All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy. Or all play and no work makes Jill a mere toy.
Finally, candidates should focus on quality sleep. Sleep is in the quality per se not quantity. Medical experts posit that people should dedicate 6 to 8 hours for therapeutic rest in form of deep sleep. Albeit, there is no way candidates can choose to compete with the dead in sleeping, and still garner good grades. Most of the candidates sleep late and wake up early because stretching and going the extra mile are of essence in the science of success. No wonder, I am talking of quality instead of quantity.
Sleep is necessary, but it must not be 8 hours. Maybe, the school sleeping policy spells out 5 hours as the sleeping time. Candidates should adhere to that. When they go to the dormitories, they should not begin solving cases or engaging in cock-and-bull stories. For without sleep, the following day, they will struggle to stay awake in class. In turn, this dents productivity of lessons and revision time. Lack of quality sleep also invites fatigue, laziness and lassitude. Lack of quality sleep also affects the affective (emotional), normative (behavioural) and cognitive (mental) dimensions of learners. Lack of quality sleep dents memory of learners. Yet, candidates need massive banks of memory. They cannot pass exams with chicken memory.
The writer rolls out talks and training services in schools.
vochieng.90@gmail.com. 0704420232
