Fighting Tiredness and Boredom You’ve chosen the best study spot, and no one could fault you on its
setup. So why are you still using pencils to prop up your eyelids?
Here’s what to do if your energy has taken a brief vacation:
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Take a nap. What a concept! When you’re too tired to
study, take a short nap to revive yourself. Maximize that nap’s
effect by keeping it short—20 minutes is ideal, 40 minutes
absolute maximum. After that, you go into another phase of
sleep and you may wake even more tired than before.
■
Have a drink. A little caffeine won’t harm you—a cup of
coffee or tea, a glass of soda. Just be careful not to mainline
it—caffeine’s “wake-up” properties seem to reverse when you
reach a certain level, making you far more tired than you were!
■
Turn down the heat. You needn’t build an igloo out back,
but too warm a room will inevitably leave you dreaming of
sugarplums...while your paper remains unwritten on your
desk.
■
Shake a leg. Go for a walk, high step around the kitchen, do a
few jumping jacks—even mild physical exertion will give you
an immediate lift.
■
Change your study schedule. Presuming you have some
choice here, find a way to study when you are normally more
awake and/or most efficient.
Studying with Small Kids Since so many more of you are going to school while raising a family,
I want to give you some ideas that will help you cope with the Charge
of the Preschool Light Brigade:
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Plan activities to keep the kids occupied. The busier
you are in school and/or at work, the more time your kids will
want to spend with you when you are home. If you schedule
some time with them, it may be easier for them to play alone
the rest of the time, especially if you’ve created projects they can work on while you’re working on your homework.
How to Study
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