Here are the 20 most important tips for avoiding sleep while studying for long hours. You can learn how small improvements in your research schedule will allow you to throw away sleepiness and study for long hours properly.
Tips to avoid sleep while studying
When you have to train for long hours at night to practice for some important examination or exam, sleep becomes the greatest obstacle. It feels like you’re being held back from hitting your goal.
It becomes very easy to catch stuff when you study with a fresh mind in the morning, but sleep becomes unavoidable at some times, such as in the afternoon and late-night, when you attempt to extend your study hours.
In reality, when you are restless, it happens. You are left with two choices at those times; first, keep the books aside and lay down to relax, and second, struggle against the drowsiness to stay awake. But it’s so easy to sleep while learning. The real deal is to ditch sleep to stay awake.
If it seems harder than quantum physics to actually stay awake while learning, use one of the following 20 techniques to help you be alert and focused.
1. Keep your study room well lighted
Most students making the greatest error is to study with just a table lamp illuminated in the entire room so a large portion of the room stays dark, promoting a cozy feeling that will inevitably make you more tempted to go to the charming bedroom with a dim environment. So, keep your room light and well lit to escape such relaxing conditions.
2. Sit in a chair, not on the bed
Whilst learning for long hours, the seating posture still matters a lot. Try to sit in a chair with a brace for the back and a table in front. When training, will help you remain involved and alert.
On the other hand, you may get into lazy mode if you are lying on your bed while studying, finally making you feel sleepy. Keep rotating your body parts at regular intervals when seated on the chair, so you do not fall into dormancy.
3. Keep moving
Movement is a well-known booster of energy. It will also help relieve exam-time stress and improve your ability to really recall what you are learning, in addition to helping you stay awake.
A 2019 research Trusted Source of students of all ages, ranging from primary school to college, showed that 10 minutes of outdoor walking dramatically increased the performance of students with recall, role recognition, and problem-solving mathematical tasks.
The goal is to take a quick break to stroll, dance, or do a few jumping jacks every 30 to 50 minutes.
4. Avoid your bedroom
The most comfortable place to study may also happen to be the place where you normally sleep if you live in a dorm room or shared apartment.
But in every place where you associate with sleep, it is better to stop studying, which could leave you feeling drowsy.
Where possible, research somewhere else away from your apartments, such as a library, coffee shop, or a designated, well-lit part of your house.
You will also make it easy to turn off your brain when it’s time to go to bed by keeping research and sleep zones apart.
5. Make studying active
It might not be sufficient to read and reread class notes or a textbook to keep you awake, let alone learn information.
By using active study methods, keep yourself awake and get the most out of your study sessions. Try one or more of the following in order to do this:
Move data to a map, cue card, diagram, graph, or other graphs.
Loudly readout.
Teach a classmate about the content.
Do drills in practice.
Build your own examples and drills to learn.
6. Avoid heavy meals
We’ve always felt the lazy feeling after a meal that sneaks in and if you have to research with a snoozing attitude like that no one will help it. In reality, you are complete and comfortable after eating a heavy meal and you are trying to keep your eyes open.
The retaining capacity is reduced by a lethargy that comes after eating a heavy diet. Often you are more likely to hit the bed when you feel tired.
But don’t suppose you’re going to have to starve to stop this sluggishness. You should eat your meals early, instead, and settle for small meals.
7. Study with friends
Stop nodding off by interacting with a classmate, friend, or research group through the material.
Social research is not only more inspiring and relaxing but will also include fresh insights and perspectives of class content. Ask others to clarify a confusing term or solidify your own experience by teaching a peer the content.
You will find that merely learning in the company of other people makes it easier to prevent falling asleep if you choose to learn independently.
8. Get quality sleep
In mood, concentration, motivation, and memory, sleep plays a major part, both of which influence learning. It’s no wonder that poor sleep is related to poor academic results.
In fact, making sleep a priority could be the most successful way to keep alert while you’re learning, both in the short and long term.
Students were provided with detailed factual evidence over 5 hours in a 2019 report. They either took a 1-hour nap, watched a video, or jammed the details halfway through the 5-hour span.
30 minutes after the end of the learning period and 1 week after the end of the learning period, they were checked on the content.
The researchers observed that after 30 minutes, students who had either crammed or napped were able to remember the details better than students who had seen a video. However, only the students who had napped retained a better memory of the data after 1 week.
9. Wash your face
During board test training, one of the most practical ways to stay awake is to wash your face anytime you feel tired. This is one of the most tried and tested approaches and one that parents across Asia perhaps favor the most.
10. Drink lots of water
Here, water is not only advised to keep you hydrated but to keep you alert as well. In reality, it’s the best trick that most students apply during their studies.
You will have to make regular visits to the toilet to pee while you drink a large amount of water, keeping you moving and alert. In comparison, drinking a sufficient volume of water helps keep the brain well hydrated, enhancing the capacity of memory and retention.
11. Follow the ‘Early to bed, early to rise’ fund
“This comes from a famous saying that makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise, “Early to bed, early to rise. This is completely valid and you get enough sleep if you manage to go to sleep early in the night, waking up to a new and energetic day.
You will focus on your studies very well with a fresh eye. A modern mind has a greater capacity of focus to hold knowledge.
12. Take a nap in the afternoon
If you have been practicing constantly since morning, so it is a must to save your brain from being tired by an afternoon nap. It will also help you stop late-night sleep while researching. To keep you conscious, a brief sleep is enough to keep the drowsiness away.
13. Keep parts of the body alert and awake
If you continue to research for long hours in the same static place, so you are more likely to be surrounded by laziness and sleepiness. So the moment you start to feel tired, get up from your chair and walk around and stretch your arms and legs in your bed.
While walking around your room, you can read. It has been found that learning while walking not only helps to inhibit fatigue but also increases attention.
14. Readout aloud while studying
To drive the lethargy down, this trick works pretty well. This reduces the odds of falling asleep while training. Listening to your own voice has much to do with it.
Try to educate yourself in the classroom as the instructor discusses a subject. This would not only serve to throw away the sleepiness but also to strengthen the strength of your studying.
15. Learn by writing
If you continue to read the text to be understood, a monotonous state will be created and you are more likely to start getting bored, which will eventually invite sleepiness.
You are told not only to be a spectator but to learn by writing to hold the lethargy down so that the brain is busy doing pen and paperwork and learning the things you have learned.
16. Avoid studying difficult topics at night
You feel more tired during the night while you tackle complex problems or attempt to understand difficult topics. At night, try to approach just the light and simple parts of the syllabus.
When the brain is fresh and active, leave the difficult portions for the daytime. For the late-night analysis, select only those topics that are easy, interesting, and your favorite.
So, dear students, if by compromising your sleep, you want to earn some extra marks, then the tricks mentioned above will definitely help you accomplish your desired academic goals.
17. Use chewing gum
Chewing gum is really unpleasant for your teeth, so keep a packet with you if you really need to, and pop one in anytime you feel tired while learning.
In the midst of study hours, there are fewer risks of you dozing off if your mouth is working continuously.
18. Drink caffeinated or Coffee
Your vitality can be improved by consuming coffee or other caffeine beverages, but be warned that the energy spurt can be short-lived. Moreover, for you too much caffeine is evil. No more than 500-600mg of caffeine can be drunk in a day.
There is a bit less than 100mg of caffeine in one 8-ounce cup of coffee, or even out of overall quantity for the day.
19. Guard your eyes
Gone are the days when we just learned from books and notebooks. This is the modern age, and often learners waste hours staring at their computer screen to analyze what they are looking at video tutorials or reading notes.
Every 30 minutes, experts suggest turning away from the computer screen. To keep your eyes from getting exhausted and to stop feeling sleepy, shut your eyes and slightly push on your lids, open them and concentrate on a blank wall for some time.
20. Get up and move around
Besides taking power naps, if you are feeling tired while training, another thing you should do is get up and walk about for a little while. You don’t have to hit the gym; you just have to keep the blood flowing.
For 30 minutes, you can stretch and dance around to a favorite song or just take a stroll outside. When walking around in your room, you can take your book and read.
Important Note:
When you need to learn, remaining alert and concentrated can be difficult especially at the end of a long day. But in the midst of a research session, there are ways to improve your wakefulness and stop nodding off.
The goal is to practice healthier routines, such as keeping hydrated, eating normal, nutritious meals, exercising, and if possible, prioritizing your sleep.
Other techniques that can help include training in a well-lit environment with colleagues, avoiding your apartment, and using constructive methods of learning.
5 Interesting activities that can be done by a student while bored
Students hardly have time to get bored in this electronic world and the internet age. But what if all the devices are bored of you and you want to do something recreational and rejuvenating? This paper explores how to get rid of boredom by joining in certain fun sports.
Most of us are under house arrest these days because of the national curfew enforced by the government to prevent the catastrophic Corona Virus outbreak from spreading. Students should be seen as the most nervous at this time, as they have no school, games, or activities.
Technology, however, has made our lives both smoother and more exciting. However, occasionally, even after being occupied with computer devices, it is a lack of curiosity that we feel bored.
Really, boredom is a chance for you to better your life in some manner or another. The mission of a student should be to make the most use of leisure time and other opportunities spent on studying to produce value for themselves and society.
Here are 5 activities a student should do if he or she is getting bored
1. Reading all the new stuff
Reading is the first thing you can do. Write a lot and read. Research on something that you find fascinating. Not only fantasy, attempt to read the autobiography of famous and inspiring people, such as those of Barack Obama, APJ Abdul Kalam, and Jawaharlal Nehru. Alter the type of books you normally read.
2. Opening up the creative side
Get a few books and paints for coloring. It’s a good way to open up your own creative hand, and it’s enjoyable. Paint and brush to share your feelings and dreams.
Believe me, with all-new experience, drawing and painting are the most calming way to help the brain evacuate all the clutter and refresh.
3. Make realistic goals, think about future plans
Yeah, to reduce boredom, this is the most important and beneficial thing. In order to accomplish your objectives, ask yourself what your goal is and exactly what you are doing.
Time is the most useful resource for a student; therefore, one needs to recognize and concentrate on the most important activities that add value to one’s education.
During the day/night, you can aim to set aside a particular time when the energy levels are high to do the most critical activities. Create a full-proof strategy, fulfill the goal and attain the feat with your future.
4. Talk to people
We are social creatures that people like to speak to. Start debates online, but in a positive way, sometimes with strangers. You have the ability to break out of your comfort zone and change your perception of life entirely when you communicate with someone you don’t know.
This will inspire fresh thoughts, give you new ideas and a lot more to think about, and you’ll get a new friend in the end.
5. Allow those travel arrangements for future
You should not even worry about stepping out of your home at this time, however, you should think about it for potential vacations. During your winter break, you should make a list of destinations you would like to see. You should learn about your favorite places; it will excite you.
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