Do the following strike you as things that graduate students or postdocs excel at?

• make plans
• keep track of time
• keep track of more than one thing at once
• meaningfully include past knowledge in discussions
• engage in group dynamics
• evaluate ideas
• reflect on our work
• change our minds and make mid-course and corrections while thinking, reading and writing
• finish work on time
• ask for help
• wait to speak until we're called on
• seek more information when we need it.

For many of these items, particularly the ones relating to planning and time management, my experience has been that these are things at which grad students and postdocs are particularly bad. And they're all important to career success. These kinds of activities are aspects of a broad measure of cognitive capability called "executive function" (the list was taken from here ).

I just saw a fascinating talk at Google by John Medina on his book, Brain Rules. The book is a summary of findings from neuroscience that are relevant to everyday life. In the first half of the talk Medina examines the relationship between exercise and cognitive function. Short summary: modest amounts of aerobic exercise (~20 minutes 3-4 times per week) have a big, quantifiable effect on executive function. It also helps prevent and treat depression, a condition to which grad students are especially prone.

One interesting implication is that exercise is an important component of education. Perhaps graduate programs should incorporate a mandatory PE requirement? At the very least, smart institutions should be making sure their grad students and postdocs have access to the gym, and they should encourage physical activity through things like intramural sports leagues for grads/postdocs. Students and their advisors shouldn't view exercise as time away from the bench, but rather as an investment in higher quality output.

Check out the talk.