How To Study After School When You Are Tired

Study after school

The best time to study is after school. Or so I have believed for the first few (maybe 2) years of my time at school. I thought that the best thing you could do after finishing school was… to study (I know it sounds stupid, but I wasn’t all that bright of a kid when I was young).

I remember the first time one of my friends invited me to his house to play some games. After we got there the first thing he asked me was “What are we going to play?” (or something along those lines, that was long ago I don’t even remember anymore). And I was like “We aren’t going to study first”? I will leave the rest up to your imagination😃.

After that encounter, I stopped studying after school. Rather, I played around a bit and then got to studying. But as the years passed the worse the situation got. Eventually, I had to study one hour before going to bed, and I was definitely going to remember what I studied and definitely didn’t think about going to sleep the whole time.

How did my situation improve?

I blabbered enough, so let’s get to the good stuff. I knew I couldn’t continue to study like this, but studying after school didn’t seem too appealing either, so I found myself somewhere in the middle. Here is a list of strategies to use if you are in a similar situation:

• Set a limited amount of time for your study session
• Study outside, alone or with friends
• Pick what to study and make it a priority
• Take a nap vs go to sleep
• Try to stand while studying
• Have a ritual before you begin to study
• Make sure to eat well and stay hydrated
• Use the Pomodoro technique
• Go for a walk

Why most of us can’t study after school

There is one key problem that stops most people from studying after school, and that is the lack of energy. While many people think that the main problem is that they can’t focus, that is not the whole story. It’s true that not being able to focus is a big problem, but the main thing that causes it is the lack of energy.

While there are some cases where the focus is the main problem (for example when the material is too boring), most of the time that is not the case, however, since my goal is to help you study after school, I will cover both the case of lack of energy and the lack of focus.

Without further ado let’s begin (queue the epic music).

Set a limited amount of time for your study session

Want me to guess how you schedule your studying (if you schedule it at all, that is)?

You write on paper the time when you are going to start studying and … that’s it, right? While better than not knowing when you are going to study, it still leaves a lot to be desired. For one, you can always push the time back (which I did a lot of times, and, I mean it when I say that).

If you say you are going to start at 2 p.m., and don’t know how long you are going to study, nothing is stopping you from starting at 2:30 p.m. Similarly, if you can start at 2:30 p.m. you can start at 3 p.m (see where this is going).

Instead, if you say that you are going to study for 1,5 hours you know how long you have to study for. If there is something that you have to do at 4. p.m., the latest you can start is 2:30 p.m.

See that?

Now that you know how long you have to study for, you know when you have to start. If you didn’t know, you could have started at 3 p.m. And if you had to do something at 4 p.m. (something like watching a football game with friends), you would have to choose between studying some more, or abandoning the rest of the study session and doing it later.

Going outside vs Staying inside

Going outside of your house can help you focus when you study. If you go to a place where other people are studying (like a library) or doing some work, you are more likely to study, since you see all of these people focusing on what they have to do.

Another argument is that staying home can be too comfortable and you can not focus no matter what you try. Except for that, when you go outside to study you are more likely to study, because you went out just to study. If you go outside with the intent to study as much as possible, and nothing else, there is a high chance that your focus will be increased.

This effect can be multiplied if you study with a group of friends. But please be careful, and make sure to remember that you went out to study, not to play around with your friends (you can always do that after a successful study session).

Despite all of these benefits, some people just don’t need them and prefer staying at home (like me). But, before you come to the conclusion that you are the same and that this isn’t for you, I suggest that you try to study outside once and see what happens.

Pick what to study and make it a priority

Just like in the “set a limited time” section, I bet that most people don’t think about what they are going to study. When you decide how long you are going to study, make sure to decide what you are going to study.

Let’s put that into practice right now!

Grab a piece of paper and write for long you are going to study (you can also write when you are going to start if you want) and next to that write what material (or part of that material) you are going to study.

And, above all else make it a priority!

Make sure to write this on a piece of paper that doesn’t have anything else written on it. By dedicating one paper to one thing, you remind yourself that one thing is really important. If you have to do one thing that day, make sure to do what you write.

What if I have to revise or study another material?

You can turn around that piece of paper and write it there (you can write as many things as you want). When you finish what is written on one side (the side with only one thing written on it), you can turn the paper around (and no cheating you have to do the most important thing first). After that pick one of the things you wrote on the other side and go from there.

Taking a nap vs Sleeping

I am a big believer in taking naps. If you want an energy boost and are too lazy to do anything, taking a nap is the ideal solution. However, there are 2 rules that I follow when taking a nap, which help me get the most out of it.

1. A nap must not be longer than 25 minutes. Everything above that is what I consider sleeping.
2. Right after the alarm clock goes off I have to start studying in the first 10 minutes after I wake up, no matter what

Let me explain. Since I am taking a nap I have to set an alarm to wake up. I make sure that the alarm is not longer than 25 minutes, otherwise I count that as sleeping. If I wanted to sleep, then I would not use an alarm clock at all.

The other rule is simple as well. If I wait too long after waking up from my nap, the energy I gain will be gone. That is why I try (I promise I do) to study as soon as I wake up. If I wanted to eat, I would do it before taking a nap and not after.

Is napping better than sleeping?

That changes from person to person (because of course it does). The easiest way (and most accurate) is to try both and see what works best for you, but since most people won’t do that (and if you prove me wrong and you are not one of those people, here is a pat on the back for you).

So, here are some cases where sleeping is better than napping:

1. If you can’t fall asleep quickly
2. You don’t study in the first 10 minutes of waking up
3. You don’t get enough energy from napping
4. After the alarm goes off, you would like to lay in bed for longer and don’t even think about studying at that moment, making the whole time you spend napping meaningless.

Study while standing

You can also try to stand while studying, that one might work better for you.

Why would standing help me?

When you are sitting in one place for a long time you start to get too comfortable and your focus starts to slip. When you are standing you have to make sure you are balanced (which might not seem hard, but still takes some of your focus). After some time you will feel more energetic and more focused than before.

A tip that I read somewhere, but don’t remember where

After you stand for some time you will start to feel uncomfortable. At that time, the first instinct you have will be to sit down. But don’t. Try to stand for 5-10 more minutes. I found that rather than being distracted, my focus and energy increase a bit more if I do this.

I don’t know if there is any scientific backing for this, but if you want to try to better study after school it doesn’t hurt to try.

Have a ritual before you begin to study

No, I am not talking about some ritual where you sacrifice 1000 potatoes to a god from an alternate dimension who will give you the ability to stop time for everyone except you, giving you infinite time to study (although that would be pretty cool, wouldn’t it?).

The ritual I am talking about is some sort of routine that can help you focus before you start to study. Some examples are:

1. Cleaning your desk
2. Listening to a certain song (but you can only listen to it before you go to study)
3. Light a scented candle before you start
4. Or whatever else comes to your mind

To this day, if I have to study something I don’t like I would light a scented candle. Just lighting this candle reminds me of the other times I had to study what I didn’t like (and trust me, there were a lot of things I hated studying). Despite that, I still succeeded and the first step to that was to start.

Since starting was so hard, I made lighting a scented candle my first step, which was much easier to achieve.

That is the point of a ritual. To make something else the first step, making it easier to start studying. As a plus to that, there was a bonus that I didn’t expect.

When I would light the scented candle and think about how I had to study, I would feel guilty while I wasn’t studying.

In my mind, the candle was being wasted!

If you also think along these lines and are struggling to start to study after school, try the “scented candle ritual” (that is what I am officially calling it from now).

Make sure to eat well and stay hydrated

Stop right there!

If you are about to pass this section because you know what this is about, I am here to tell you that you don’t know the full picture (or, if you do, sorry for the disrespect).

Let’s start with the most obvious part. Being hungry or thirsty can mess with your focus, so it is in your best interest to eat well and stay hydrated. Especially make sure that you don’t skip your meals because you “don’t have time” and are “too busy to eat”.

As the saying goes a good student is a healthy student (and if you are wondering who said those words, well it was me, so it must be true).

The other problem that can happen is that you get hungry or thirsty in the middle of your study session. If you stand up to eat or get water, it could break your concentration.

So, what to do?

Have a cup of water near you, so you can always drink if you get thirsty. When you take a break refill the cup. That way you won’t need to break your focus.

The same is true when you are hungry. When you are on a break, you can always eat a snack. My ideal case would be some type of fruit (any of them works, the choice is yours). Something like peanuts, hazelnuts or almonds are also quite good. Those are just my preferences though.

If you want one general tip to follow, then don’t eat something sweet, unless it’s a fruit. Although you get a momentary energy boost, after some time you will feel worse compared to when you haven’t eaten anything.

A reminder: Snacks are not a replacement for a meal. Make sure you have a proper meal before you start to study. Don’t rely on quick snacks to do the job.

Use the Pomodoro technique

In simple terms, here is the explanation for the Pomodoro technique:

1. Pick a material you want (more like have to) to study
2. Set a timer to 25 minutes
3. Study until the timer hits zero
4. Take a 5-minute break
5. Repeat

After going through four cycles you can take a 15-minute break, and then start from the beginning again. If you want to know more, you can go here.

This technique makes it easy to schedule a study session with all of the breaks you need. The strongest feature of this technique (at least in my opinion, others may disagree) is its flexibility. You can change everything about it, including:

1. How long does one study session last
2. How long is your break
3. The number of cycles you go through (4 is the standard, you can go down to 3 or up to 5 if you’d like. I don’t recommend changing this one too much, but if that works for you, just do it)
4. And how long is your longer break, after you finish four (or whatever number you pick) cycles

If you want to study after school this much flexibility comes in quite handy.

Go for a walk

It’s obvious that this was going to be in here (and for those who don’t know, I always mention walking whenever I get the chance). If you are low on energy and can’t focus, maybe one short 10 to 20-minute walk could do the trick for you.

Even if you try it and still feel the same, the most you could lose is 20 minutes.

A heads up: Don’t go on a 2-hour walk, come back exhausted and claim that it didn’t work.

What did you think was going to happen when you walked for 2 hours?

You are walking to regain energy and sharpen your focus, not to lose weight or get into shape. So a light 20-minute walk will do. You can go slowly and observe the scenery around you.

* * * * *

For those who want to learn a little bit more

Here are some extra resources that could help you:

• How To Increase Your Energy For Studying
• How To Focus When You Are Studying
• How To Stop Procrastinating And Start Studying

I hope at least one of these tips was useful to you and that it can help you to study after school.

Good luck with your studies.