How Exercise, Diet, and Sleep Impact Cognitive Decline
Brett Morris
Honors Project: How Exercise, Diet, and Sleep Impact Cognitive Decline
Honors Course: Adult Psychology
Instructor: Cari Paterno
My name is Brett Morris. My time at Oakton has been focused on Psychology, but I've also particularly enjoyed classes on World Religions, Ethics, English, Social Problems, and especially the Honors courses I've taken on Contemporary Culture and the Arts and the Learning Community that combined Plants and Society and Intro to Social and Cultural Anthropology. I also very much enjoyed taking a deep dive into some of my Psychology classes by taking advantage of the Honor's Contract process, which gave me the opportunity to learn a lot from my Professors in our one-on-one meetings. I believe this experience has helped prepare me for future academic challenges. I am going to attend Northeastern Illinois University beginning in May 2023, where I will be majoring in Psychology and minoring in Social Justice. My experience at Oakton has been incredibly fulfilling, and I feel lucky to have had so many stellar professors.
Psychology and the human mind have always fascinated me. I was thrilled when I had the opportunity to learn more about how to protect our most valuable asset, our mind, by adding an Honor's Contract to Professor Paterno's Adult Psychology course. Working closely with Professor Paterno, we created a project on cognitive decline and aging that included aspects of a traditional research paper. She also had the creative idea to add two additional sections beyond the research. One involved learning directly from someone in our community who achieved an impressively long life, which gave me the chance to have a very meaningful interview with our dear family friend everyone affectionately refers to as "Uncle Nate", who is still ‘sharp as a tack’ today at the age of 99. The second used what I had learned to create a hypothetical adult community center that would implement the knowledge I had gained from my research in practical ways. The most rewarding aspects of this Honor's Contract were the informative one on one conversations with Professor Paterno and the experience of writing a higher-level paper that I am certain will be of great benefit during my future academic career.
