Brain Effects Associated with Cinnamon and Peppermint

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Introduction
In Middle School, before taking a big test teachers would always hand out peppermint or a piece of gum. The purpose behind this seemed unclear. However, from further research their was interesting facts about peppermint candy and Big Red cinnamon flavored gum. Peppermint candy is made with the oil of peppermint, which is extracted from the peppermint plant. This is why the candy can have some of the same effects as the oil itself. People believe the brain effects associated with peppermint are related to the scent of the peppermint, rather than the ingestion of it.
Cinnamon is metabolized into sodium benzoate and eating cinnamon significantly elevates the level of sodium benzoate in your brain. Recent studies have shown that sodium benzoate helps with brain function and may prevent neurological disorders. It does this by creating a significant number of chemicals in the brain called neurotropic factors. These factors stimulate the birth of new neurons and encourage the survival of existing neurons. This greatly slows down degenerative diseases of the brain like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
In fact, both peppermint and Big Red gum are said to increase a person’s alertness, motivation, and performance. They also lower fatigue, anxiety, and frustration. This helps the person focus better. Also, scents play an important part. The scent travels to the limbic system in your brain. This area affects your hormones and mood. Important parts of the limbic system are the hypothalamus, the amygdala, and hippocampus. The hypothalamus regulates hormones, the amygdala is responsible for emotion and the hippocampus is important for memory. All of these functions play a part while taking a test.
The purpose of this experiment is to ...

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...argin as Big Red. Some students did better without peppermint or Big Red. However, this was very few. By taking the average it shows the overall trend among the participants.
Discussion
From this experiment it was concluded that the hypothesis was correct. Big Red increased test scores for a majority of students. The background research supported the idea that it increases a person’s alertness, motivation, and performance. This helped the people focus better and raised the test scores. Also, the scents may have influenced the limbic system, which also contributed.
Even though the hypothesis was correct the experiment could be improved. If time had allowed longer tests could have been used. This would prove or disprove the idea that peppermint or Big Red would help aid with fatigue. Also, this test would be more realistic because most are not only two minutes long.

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