Students Taking an Exam
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Did you know that when you are in a room full of people taking an exam, their exhaling of CO2 could actually be inhibiting your cognitive function and causing you to get a lower grade? CO2 has long been a topic of interest and debate in the world of climate change but new findings suggest that CO2 is also to blame for the inability to think!
According to a recent study published in Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP), every room should be ventilated such that the CO2 levels are kept at the optimal level of 600 ppm. When CO2 concentrations exceed this level, people are at risk of suffering reduced cognitive function. They found that high levels of CO2 in classrooms is often associated with students cutting class and doing poorly on school related activities. The evidence that was provided for their findings was found through an experiment conducted by William Fisk where the research team exposed a group of 22 college students to three different levels of CO2: 600 ppm, 1000 ppm, and 2500 ppm. It was found that with increasing levels of CO2 resulted in decreased level of decision making abilities.
CO2 Monitor
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As a preventative measure, classrooms can install a CO2 monitor that gives readings of the CO2 levels and make ventilation changes accordingly. However, with larger scale modifications such as ventilation changes, further research and experimentation needs to be done in order for the results of the experiment to be replicated.
The good news is that the mechanical engineers at UBC keep the CO2 levels in classrooms and lecture halls at the very acceptable levels of less than 1000 ppm. So we don’t need to worry about CO2 preventing us from doing well on our exams. If you do want to do well on your exams, this short clip of brain exercises that might be helpful:
Blog Submitted by Elsie Ng
