Why Being a Really Bad Boxer Makes Me Good at Doing Academia.

Some of you may be already aware that when I am not knitting or dissecting people’s literature reviews, I box. Growing up, I was always that awkward kid who hid at the back of gym class, trying not to get picked to be on a team. I didn’t much like the outdoors (and I was right – there are ticks, and poison ivy, and BEARS!!!!), and I could usually be found buried in a book somewhere. No one questioned this much – I was firmly stereotyped as “bookish” rather than “sporty” and my family and friends were happy to leave me in my groove.

The result? It was not until my late thirties that I discovered just how AMAZING hard, physical exercise is for your brain and your well-being.

I am NOT a very good boxer. I have a tendency to trip over my own feet, getting up and down (i.e. climbing into a ring under some ropes) has been challenging for a few years now, and I don’t really like hitting people I am not actually cheesed off at.

Nevertheless, I RELISH my time spent at Wolfsden Boxing, which amounts to 5-6 hours a week—usually in 2-hour sessions. After two hours of constant movement, pushing my muscles to the extreme, combined with the mental strain of forcing my brain to think quickly about something as far outside my comfort zone as where the next punch will come from NEVER fails to leave me invigorated and refreshed (and aching, but hey – swings and roundabouts).

Those of us who have chosen the academic path can often be pigeonholed – and pigeonhole ourselves – out of this type of intense mind/body workout. We think we have to choose – muscles or brain – and so we miss out on the benefit of doing something outside of our norm. However, there is some pretty conclusive science showing that the link between physical and mental health—including cognition, as well as wellbeing—is irrefutable.

Boxing might not be for you—but there are good reasons to get active in whatever way appeals to you, even—perhaps especially—if it seems out of character or beyond possibility. Choose something that will make you use your brain as well as your body (no hamster treadmills for my students, please), especially in ways you don’t normally use it. Sky-diving? Figure skating? Rock climbing? Jiu-Jitsu? Whatever you choose, do it for the joy it brings and the break it will provide from being the bookworm everyone expects you to be when they see your academic credentials.

Yes, I’m a doctor—and I can take you down if you look at me wrong. (If I don’t trip over my own feet first).