We all know that there are so many different factors relating to college life, from exam stress to personal issues, that they can all threaten to derail our focus. From a health perspective, we need to make sure that we are fighting fit so we can achieve. But of course, it’s not as easy as that, is it? But when it comes to your health, it’s important to think about the health components that can hinder your study as well as aid them.
Addressing Your Health Markers
If we’re going to be fighting fit mentally and physically, we need to make sure that we are operating to the best of our abilities. When it comes to various stresses, we’ve got to rule out the major health problems that could override everything. Something like blood pressure is worth addressing. You can easily have a blood pressure online check to make sure that you are keeping healthy in this respect. When you’re looking at your basic health, you have to remember that if there are specific problems, you have to rule out the basics first. If you’re feeling under the weather all the time, are you sure you’re not deficient in a vitamin or a mineral? At the same time, you might also want to look at your diet, especially if you are intolerant to something but don’t realize it.
Using Caffeine Wisely
It’s one of the go-to options for many students when they’re trying to pull an all-nighter. But the big problem with caffeine is that it can have an adverse effect. It all depends on your tolerance to caffeine, but if you can use caffeine wisely by understanding your own limits but also supplementing it in a way that your body can handle, you will have more focus. You have to remember that with something like coffee, it can have peaks and troughs. If you fill up on a flask of coffee before you start studying, there could be that inevitable energy dip. Caffeine can help, but only when you are aware of how it affects you. There is no point in pounding three cans of an energy drink before doing anything because you won’t be able to focus on your work!
Regaining Your Perspective
We have to remember that while we are here to study, but we can let the overall pressure get to us. While it’s easy to say that your course isn’t everything, you still need to find a way to make sure that you are able to see through your internal doubts. It may be a very good idea to start meditating. If you start to learn to quieten your mind down, this can help you to see the light. By regaining your perspective, especially if you are hitting the books but not getting any tangible results, it can help you to rethink your plan of action. Because we can get stressed by studying and worrying about failing an exam or what’s going to happen six months from now we’ve got to learn how to take a step back from the problems and sometimes looking at it from a different perspective can give us the whole new outlook which can help us to regain our focus.
Training Your Brain In Obvious And Non-obvious Ways
We’ve got to remember that our mind is like a muscle. Learning to train your brain isn’t necessarily about learning new studying skills, but it’s about figuring out ways to strengthen those neurological connections. But the great thing is that training your brain can be done in numerous ways. Something like video games is a very good example. And studies have shown that video games are good for you because they increase your spatial awareness and your short-term memory, which are essential for studying.
Learn To Sleep Better
It’s a simple thing but something we can drastically overlook. If you don’t get your adequate number of hours every night, you will operate at a deficit, which means you will reach for stimulants. But you’ve got to remember that prioritizing sleep is good for those neurological connections. We are in a sleep deficit as a nation, and it’s a good idea to recognize when you need sleep. No doubt, you are the master of sleeping in, but when you get stressed, it can severely impact your quality of sleep. Learning to sleep better isn’t necessarily about getting more hours in, but it’s ensuring that you prepare for rest in the right way. You may want to have a nighttime routine or figure out ways for you to switch off your mind as well as your phone. Let’s not forget the blue lights emitting from our phones is disrupting our sleep hormone melatonin. This will have a drastic impact on our quality of sleep.
Ensuring You Exercise
If you don’t have any form of exercise routine, it’s a good idea to get into the habit. It’s not just a good idea for routine and to make you feel better, but exercise is good for the brain. Exercise can help you to strengthen your mind, but it can also help to increase resilience, especially with something like strength training. When you start to increase your resilience, it can improve your perspective of events but also get you into the habit of strengthening every aspect of your life. The big problem most of us have with exercise is that it’s boring. It doesn’t have to be boring, and you can very easily join a campus team or do something that you enjoy.
These are very simple things, but we need to remember that when we struggle to study that we got to address the art of focus. Because it’s not just to do with stress or external factors, but it can be to do with the simple components as well. Learning to focus on your work and minimizing the stress associated with study can improve your focus infinitely. Because we face so much pressure as students, this can leave us operating at a deficit. This means that you’ve got to supplement yourself appropriately but also make sure that you are functioning healthily.
