Activities that can Optimize your Well-being

 Alexandria Thorpe, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Computer Science 

During the development process of my capstone, I certainly learned a lot. I had been casually studying Marzipan’s Memoir before I started my capstone, when I saw an opportunity to take things to the next level.

Over the course of the pandemic, it was very easy to get stuck in your own head as you may have experienced, so naturally I wondered, “What are some ways to optimize your well-being?” Some of these things were obvious and I already knew them such as, getting 8 hours of sleep a night, eating your veggies, or getting some exercise.  I really did not know why these things supposedly helped when actually, it all comes down to how they affect your brain. I started to wonder, “What are some other activities that optimize brain chemistry?” At that point, I knew I had a topic for my capstone, because it turned out there was a lot more.

What really interested me the most about these activities is how profound the effects they have for what little effort it takes to implement them into a routine. For example, if you meditate for a few minutes a day for a few weeks the grey matter in your brain will literally be altered. Think about that; you can change the overall composition of your brain just by thinking specific thoughts! It sounds ridiculous, but it is apparently true. A lot of our own neuro-chemistry is right at our hands and we are not even aware of how to manipulate it correctly. I think if this type of information were presented more widely, many people would have a higher quality life in general.

If I had to develop this game further, I would probably make it more digestible and entertaining

for the average player, with less clumsy topic placement and improved mechanics/graphics. 

Research wise it is a lot to take in, but really my goal would be for the player to walk away 

having a better idea of how to implement the habits presented if they wanted to try them.