1. Convince yourself:
Start by convincing yourself that you can pull it off. You can do what you believe you are capable of doing. Its that You need physical as well as mental strength to accomplish it.
Also, you need to prepare yourself mentally as early as the night before you are actually planning to study for long hours. This will build up your determination and you will think twice before giving up.
2. Be well rested:
Ever wondered why your mothers pestered you to sleep in the afternoons?
Yes, you got it. While you sleep, your body, as well as your brain, continuously generates new cells. If your body is well-rested, you can effectively study smart way, as long as you want to.
Therefore sleeping well the night before is crucial to your mental as well as physical stamina needed to study for long periods of time.
3. Eat light:
A large amount of energy in our body is wasted during digestion. Therefore in order to avoid feeling tired or groggy while studying, always eat foods which are easily digested.
Consume carbohydrates and proteins. Avoid fried food, fats and sugars as much as possible. Don’t sip on cola or junk food from outside and drink plenty of water and fruit juices.
4. Exercise:
Exercise right before you sit to study or in between when you are taking a break. Exercise will greatly boost up your energy levels and you will feel more alert and agile. Please avoid doing strenuous strength training like lifting heavy weights or high-intensity cardio.
5. Identify your best time of study:
We all have those specific hours during which we are most energetic, most efficient and creative. Those are your peak hours. Try identifying them to get the maximum results out of your time.
It is relatively easy for some to study all night whereas some may find it easy to study all day but may find it difficult to stay up past 12 am. All this depends on the individual’s study habits. Therefore identifying your peak hours is an important study tip.
6. Caffeine is both good and bad:
You might think sipping on a lot of coffee will help you stay awake. Sadly this concept is wrong. Yes, it does boost up your energy level but consuming too much will make you feel more drowsy than energetic.
The sugar content here is the devil. If at all you want to consume coffee, make sure it is sugarless and the total intake should not be more than 2 to 3 mugs.
7. Improve your level of concentration:
Long hours are full of distractions. It is very easy for us to lose focus or get bored. Perform a simple exercise of concentration every day to improve it. Light a candle in a dimly lit room.
Sit up straight with your legs folded in the fashion of a yoga asana and stare at the candle flame as long as possible thinking about nothing. It is going to be very difficult initially but gradually your time and focus will increase and so will your level of concentration.
8. Cut off distractions:
You can never concentrate or even try increasing your levels of concentration if you keep objects of distractions all around you. Put away your laptop if you are not using it for studies. Switch off your mobile phone or silence it.
9. Take a short break:
The best way to keep your focus and go on for long hours is to take a 10 to 15 minutes break every 1 to 2 hours of study and a 30-minute break every 6 to 8 hours. The average span of attention for human beings is approximately an hour. Realize why we have 40 to 50 minutes periods at school? It is probably to ensure that what we learn stays with us longer.
10. Section it up and be organized:
Studying for long hours will be rendered useless if you do not manage to complete your portions and keep dragging with the same chapter. You can avoid this by sectioning it up and being a bit more organized.
Read it first, then learn it, then write it down. Identify your mistakes. We tend to remember our mistakes so always make a list of your mistakes and work on those more.
11. Add variations:
Adding variations is very helpful especially when you are trying to study straight for several hours. It is one of the ways to avoid boredom.
For example, if you are preparing for different subjects say History, Geography, and English, try learning history for 1 hour and then shift to geography or English. Similarly, mix 2 chapters for 1 subject. This will break the monotony.
12. Writing is better than learning:
Writing is better if you are studying for long hours. Thinking for the answer will distract you making you feel you haven’t learnt properly when you actually have. Firstly while writing you can in no way fall asleep.
You must be logged in to post a comment.