Sunday, December 1, 2013

How To Get The Most Out Of College

By Hedrick Lepsch


Yep. I said it. Keep your late night study sessions, and your lengthy lectures. I'm going to boost my brain power by dancing. Dancing is most frequently heralded as a fun and healthy way to exercise and stay fit, but recent studies have proven that dancing promotes long term mental health and acuity.

Enjoy it

Jean Piaget, a well-known developmental psychologist is credited with saying that, "Intelligence is what you use when you don't know what to do." Our brains work by creating neural paths to stored information. Each piece of stored information may be accessed through a single neural path or by many paths depending on how many different ways we have attempted to access that information.

Increasing the number of paths to any given piece of information increases your ability to access that information from any point instead of having to arrive at it through a single pathway each time. The aging process causes these synapses and pathways can deteriorate and fade, leaving us struggling to remember simple things like names or dates. The more unique pathways we can create, the stronger our minds will stay.

Learn well enough so you can teach

Modern Innovators in Calligraphy

Of all the activities under scrutiny, most of the physical activities produced no recognizable risk reduction. Many of the cognitive activities produced a slight risk reduction with very few topping 50%. The one activity that produced the highest risk reduction of all the activities studied was frequent social dancing, showing an astonishing 76% reduction in the risk of dementia and other mental diseases.

Sometimes it takes just one step in front of the other. There are way too many students out there that get lost in the minute details and forget to focus their studies around their goals. If you have a goal whether it is work or some area that you want to end up going into then you will be able to better remember what you study.

The key to maintaining the strength of your mind is to participate in activities that force you to make split second decisions, or which force you to quickly and uniquely access previously learned information, thus creating a new neural pathway to that information. When it comes to dancing the best forms are those which allow for free-form lead and follow communication.

While choreographed dancing provides an excellent form of exercise, it requires that you follow the same neural pathways over and over to reach the information you need to move. Social dancing whether Ballroom, Swing, or Latin, requires that the individual examine a myriad of external triggers including music, spacial awareness, and non-verbal communication from their dance partner and then process and respond to that information. All of this is happening in a fraction of a second and is repeated over and over during the course of a standard three or four minute song.

Remember that it isn't just about the grade or the degree. Don't be fooled in thinking just because you received your Graphic Arts Degree that you are good to go. It takes an actual knowledge and skill set to make it out in most jobs. If you want to be the best at what you do then it is all about shaping your studies to fit the needs of your future self, meaning your future career as well.

Calligraphy is far from being an antiquated or dying art. It is still thriving through both a handwritten and digital tradition and it will continue to evolve as more time passes. If you are interested in a graphic arts degree, College America has programs available through online and in-class instruction that will provide you with the skills and training that you need to truly succeed as a graphic artist.




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