Tips on Creating a Healthy and Productive Study Environment
Balancing all parts of your life, such as social life, family, work, and study, is not that easy when you are a student. What you really need is to make your life a little easier and reduce the pressure that you are under. One of the ways you can do that is to create a healthy study environment that would help you cope with challenging tasks faster and with far less stress. Try our tips because they might be a game-changer for you.
Create a Routine First
We can’t stress it enough – routine is the basis for successful studying. All that you need in order to feel much more confident about your college performance is in an effectively developed study routine. But what does it really mean?
Well, each one of us has our own biorhythms and needs. Some of us are morning persons; others are the most productive at night. Pick the time that you feel is the best time for your brain to manage challenging assignments and create a habit of studying at this very time every day. Your brain will eventually get used to such a schedule and will have no trouble adjusting to the location or distractions as it will know that it is time to study. By the way, you should definitely check out our post on how to create a study schedule.
It also should be applied to the rest of your daily tasks and regime, such as waking up and going to bed at the same time every day, having meals, and scheduling your workouts. Permanence and regularity are crucial if you want to achieve great results.
Pick a Place
Another very important thing that affects your productivity is your study space. In order to feel more focused and effective, you need to pick one place for your studies and stick to it. It’s much easier for you to boost your productivity if your brain knows when to study and where.
It might be your room, campus library, or any other place where you feel the most focused and ready to study. When picking a specific location, consider its availability, comfort, and the fact of staying there for hours if needed. The location of your choice should be quiet enough and provide minimum interruptions, such as people walking in and out, loud noises, etc.
However, this is not something that works equally well for everyone. Some people feel the most productive when working in collaborative spaces, surrounded by people. They can easily focus on their work without noticing how loud the overall noise around them is. If you are one of such people, you will definitely prefer a place like a coworking space or group study.
Important: Remember that your study space should be used only for studying! Don’t try to create a multifunctional space where you can eat and watch Netflix. The purpose of creating a place for your studies is to create a strong association between the place itself and brain activity.
Clear and Organize
Though great minds can rule the chaos, a study space should be as organized as possible. The clutter around you might cause distractions and a lack of focus. A healthy study space is the one that helps you be more productive in less time, so think about the most effective way to organize everything you need.
Don’t just keep all of your notes in a pile because you will spend time searching for a particular one. Separate them into categories and store them in different folders or an organizer with convenient compartments.
Also, keep all of your stationery ready to use and organized. This will save your time and will also make it easier to notice when you need to buy something new.
Don’t Get Too Comfortable
What is bad about feeling too comfortable when studying, one might wonder? Well, to our surprise, almost everything! It’s true that when your body feels relaxed, it’s harder to keep focusing on challenging assignments and tasks.
That’s why it’s highly unrecommended to study in your bed, though many students prefer it. The thing is, you are used to falling asleep in your bed; that’s why your brain might feel confused about what signals to send to your body.
If you easily fall asleep while studying, consider changing the chair that you are sitting on or the lighting. Maybe you will find that you focus better when the cooler light is on and when you are sitting straight instead of lying in bed.
Personalize Your Space
When you surround yourself with little things that make you happy, your productivity improves. Not everyone is a minimalist who can feel productive while sitting at the table with nothing but a laptop on it. You might be the person who needs a little more coziness to feel more positive and energized.
Buy a few green plants to put in your study space, some motivational posters, or just a cute lamp to feel that the place you are creating is really the one that you enjoy coming back to. This is the only way to make your study sessions more pleasant and avoid procrastination. By the way, home plants improve air quality which is vital for healthy brain activity. This is also why you should open windows each day to let the fresh air in.
Conclusion
Creating a study space is not that hard. It should be a dedicated place where you feel focused and free from distractions such as your phone, loud noises, or other people. Make sure to organize the one that you would love to spend time in, and your study sessions will instantly improve.
