How to Not Fall Asleep While Reading
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Nosotros've all been at that place: The moment you allow yourself believe that if you lot only shut your eyes for v minutes, you'll wake upwardly feeling refreshed and set to tackle your assignments. Chances are, though, that once you let yourself "remainder your eyes," they're going to stay that way for much longer than five minutes. Something about reading academic textbooks, periodical articles, and other written material can be infuriatingly dull, particularly if you're non interested in the material in the first identify. And even if yous are, textbooks sometimes feel like they're written specifically to exist tedious. So how do you lot stay awake while reading textbooks?
Read the text out loud.While this is especially important if yous're an auditory learner and y'all tin can benefit from hearing the material, reading aloud besides makes you lot more conscious of what you lot're reading. Not to mention that it'south hard to fall asleep when you're in the eye of a sentence. If you lot have a written report buddy, read together; have your partner read 1 department aloud while y'all mind, and so switch. You tin can discuss the textile once you've finished the reading to brand sure y'all've understood all the main points.
Wake yourself up with something cold.Whether you decide to splash water on your face, take a cool shower, or drink ice water, a picayune scrap of common cold can be refreshing and aid continue you awake. A cold drink might exist easiest (that way y'all don't take to wash your face up twelve times in one afternoon). Sip on it regularly and yous may start to feel a little more awake, especially if information technology'due south a caffeinated drink. Plus, if you keep taking in fluids, you'll accept to continue getting rid of them besides. It'due south difficult to fall asleep when yous really demand to use the bathroom.
Make yourself a little bit uncomfortable. In particular, don't study in your bed. Your brain and body both consciously and unconsciously associate your bed with sleeping. Even if you're awake when you start an assigned reading, you're not going to feel that way for long. Your bed is warm, cozy, and sitting in it will make you long for a nap. Instead of holing upwards in your chamber, find a place to report where you have to sit up directly or can't get quite as comfortable as you lot'd like. It may not keep you as alert as you'd like to be, but it'll definitely foreclose y'all from spontaneously falling asleep.
Go out in public. Information technology's much less socially acceptable to fall comatose in a coffee shop than it is to fall comatose in your dorm. Put yourself in a situation where yous'd exist embarrassed to be caught sleeping and you're much more probable to really focus on your reading.
Pay attention to the time. You know your torso all-time, and you know when you're most productive. Information technology wouldn't be helpful for me to say that you should try to go your hardest work done between 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm, considering while that works for me, it might not work for you. Some people are incredibly productive at 8:00 am or x:00 pm. Pay attention to your body and when you feel awake, finish any else you're doing and focus on your most intensive work. Once y'all know when you lot're most productive, you can programme your days and your studying around that chunk of time.
Get your 8 hours.It may not be exactly eight hours, just getting a total night of sleep every night is going to help your wellness and productivity in the long run. Yes, there volition exist some nights when you lot only manage to go five solid hours of sleep (the next morning will non be fun), but if you can assistance it, choose slumber. Your grades will give thanks you.
Don't wait to practice it all in one go.You can't sit downwards and read an entire textbook without getting bored, missing out on important material, or falling comatose. Don't be too hard on yourself when your body and brain just won't cooperate. Instead, take breaks. Set yourself small goals (read a chapter, read for fifteen minutes) and so reward yourself with a 5-minute break, a snack, or extra Netflix time subsequently you lot finish your assignment. Breaking down the material into chunks volition aid prevent you from getting too tired (since you'll exist moving about between chunks) and it'll ultimately feel like the reading goes faster.
Read actively. Take notes, highlight important text, or underline main ideas while you're reading. This will go along your brain more active (rather than merely reading word after word and not taking annihilation in). You'll retain more information if you're jotting down the important ideas or scanning each paragraph for the master idea afterward reading through the department. Again, information technology's harder to fall comatose when you lot're doing something a picayune more involved than staring at words on a page.
Drink something.Whether it'southward the common cold water flim-flam mentioned above or you get for the heavily caffeinated beverages, keeping your body physically busy tin can aid go along yous alert. Practise be wary about drinking too many caffeinated beverages or drinking them in the evening or at night; y'all could end upward hurting your sleep schedule.
Actively try not to exist bored.Yes, I'thou fully advocating for "fake it 'til you lot brand it." I have actually read a volume chosenClay: The Ecstatic Skin of the Universe. Despite existence a geology major, I'grand not actually super interested in dirt. You can imagine how difficult it must've been for the nonmajors in the course. When faced with what seems like an insurmountable reading assignment, pretend that you're interested. Tell yourself that the subject is fun and useful, and that information technology'll be good to know down the line in other classes. Y'all may still not end upward liking dirt, simply it might trick your brain into staying alert and at least vaguely interested for the duration of the reading.
Cheque your environment.If you're trying to study in a room that's filled with the sounds of a babbling beck and is dimly lit, you're probably going to fall asleep. Make certain your lights are on, window shades are open up (natural low-cal does wonders), and music isn't too calming.
Get moving.If you can walk and read at the same time, bring your textbook or reading consignment to the gym and hop on the treadmill. Don't plan on getting an intense conditioning in while you're reading, but stay moving throughout and you may observe your focus improved. Plus, it's probably next to impossible to fall asleep on the treadmill. If you don't desire to haul yourself over to the gym, break up your reading with some physical activeness. Later every section do 25 jumping jacks or ten push button ups. An elevated heart rate will wake you lot up too.
Munch on a snack. Some energy-boosting foods include fruit, nuts, yogurt, and eggs. If it's mid-afternoon and you're feeling peckish, make yourself a parfait, take hold of an apple, or dig into a jar of pecans. Stay away from the candy and chocolate though. That's a habit that'll be hard to break and it certainly isn't a healthy ane.
How exercise y'all manage to stay awake and engaged each time you have to do a reading assignment?
Source: http://blog.studentcaffe.com/not-fall-asleep-reading-textbooks/
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