Essential Question: To what extent does exercise alleviate stress?
This topic greatly interests me, first of all, because I am an active runner, who has been a part of the cross country team at Johnson High School for three years! I have always been pretty good with dealing with stress in my own way, but I never knew how or why I was so resilient to stress (even though I am the kind of person who is most likely to put myself in stressful situations). Lately, since my senior year in IB has brought many stress factors in my life I have noticed that since the cross country season has ended I have become increasingly apt to stress. Thus, my experiences have brought me to discover my essential question. I also think this will interest other students like me who have a lot to deal with, but need an easy outlet to help relieve some every day stressors which excites me most about finding the answer to this question! In this investigation I researched the biological, environmental, and cognitive factors that can explain how well exercise can alleviate stress.