By Megan McCaleb, MSPAS/MPH 2016 Class President
PA school requires a whole new set of study tools from your tool belt. Maybe you thought you had finally figured out what worked for you in undergrad, or while completing another master’s program. Don’t freak out, but welcome back to the beginning. The pace is faster, the materials are more difficult, and the standards are higher. It’s okay, have your moment of freak out. But then take a step back and try and understand what Touro will help you become. Bigger, better, faster, stronger (wait wait wait…. that’s Kanye.) Retract that. In all honesty, at the end of this program you will be faster. A faster thinker, a quicker test taker, someone whose synapses are firing and connecting more rapidly than the med students’ standing next to you on rotations. You will be stronger. Mentally, emotionally, and quite possibly physically (depending how many times you run up and down the stairs from Lander hall). And best of all you will be better. A better person. A better caregiver. More emphatic. More tolerant: because your classmates are a diverse group of individuals who will challenge you, push all of your buttons, and who you will walk away from after three years as family. Okay. So now that we have that settled… How do we get you from where you are now to graduation?
They said it was like drinking water from a fire hydrant. Ain’t that the truth. Medical school is overwhelming. The material is dense and the window given to master such a massive volume of information is relatively short.
Regular exercise changes the brain in ways that improve memory and thinking skills claims researchers at Harvard Medical School. There are plenty of good reasons to be physically active, weight loss, lower blood pressure, prevent depression or just look better. But here’s another one, exercise changes the brain in ways that protect memory and thinking skills.