Organizing your Home to Enhance your Studying

Many students struggle to find the motivation to study at home, with a number of distractions such as television, roommates and computer games it can be hard to choose a textbook over Facebook. You can however, make your life easier by organizing your home to be more study friendly.

If you’re surrounded by distractions it can be hard to focus on your study, causing you to give up as you feel unproductive. That’s why libraries are such a great place to get stuck into work, but unfortunately not everyone has the luxury of their own personal library! Instead you’ll have to use the space you have in your home and make it suitable for college work.

Designated study area

If you’re shacking up with other people in your home it can be incredibly hard to concentrate. Trying to write an assignment whilst listening to the television witter on in the background can drive you positively insane. This is why creating a quiet zone for study in your home can really enhance your concentration.

Home offices are fantastic, but if you don’t have the space to dedicate a whole room to an office or live in a dorm then don’t worry! You could use an area of your bedroom to study, this may simply be a beanbag which you sit on only when studying and have your stationery and resources located conveniently. If you have a specific place to study you can get more into the right frame of mind, having your stationery organised can also make studying seem less daunting.

Food for thought

If you don’t have adequate space to study in your bedroom or feel you struggle to concentrate in there, try your kitchen. Sitting at the kitchen table provides you with a comfy seat to do your work on, kitchens also generally have better lighting than bedroom so you won’t be straining your eyes if you’re a night owl.

Try to have some healthy snacks on your kitchen table to nibble at whilst studying. Research has proven that blueberries in particular are a great brain food which can help to boost your concentration during study. Keep hydrated with water too, just being slightly dehydrated can significantly affect your concentration levels. If you’re using a computer, drinking plenty of water is particularly important as it can help to keep headaches caused by eye strain at bay.

Studying in the summer

Summer in particular can be a hard time to focus solely on studying. Whilst you generally have a great chunk of the summer off college, there can be weeks of good weather prior to the holiday period and usually these weeks are filled with exams and tests. Finding the motivation to study when the weather outside’s glorious can be really difficult as you feel like you’re missing out on the sunshine when you’re stuck inside.

Rather than studying in your home why not create an area in the garden to study? You could use an outdoor table and chairs to study or even something as funky as a hanging chair to sit in whilst reading a textbook. Sunshine provides you with vital vitamins as well as enhancing your mood; you may find you’re far more productive studying in the tranquil outdoor environment away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the house.

Studying in the winter

Winter can be quite depressing, and in the month of December, you often have Christmas and thanksgiving on your mind far more than college studies! The temperatures can also make winter quite miserable, some people even suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder which causes them to experience depression during the winter months.

You need to make sure you have adequate heating in your home if you want to revise productively. If your heating is ineffective replace old heaters with more modern radiators which have a higher heat output to coax you out from under that duvet! Studying by a lit fire can be rather comfortable too.

Try to keep stocked up on foods rich with vitamin C or take supplements to boost your immune system. Many people fall ill with colds and flu each winter, and often this results in them staying off college to get better. Try to wrap up warm and eat healthily to beat fatigue and fight off those winter illnesses.

Productive studying at home is all about creating the right environment for you to thrive in. Whilst some people find background music a distraction, others find it helps them to focus. Generally, you need to find out what works best with you so get experimental! Try studying in different areas of the home and fight off the temptation to fill yourself with caffeine to increase your alertness!