Best time to study

Lifestyle writers debate the best time of day to hit the books

MORNINGS. Love them or hate them, getting up early can improve study. Accomplishing tasks early on in the day can make you feel capable of smashing your goals. Yet is establishing a productive morning routine really worth sacrificing those extra hours in bed?

Studies suggest that, yes, early mornings are the best time in which to work. Ron Friedman, author of The Best Place to Work , notes that those who study in the morning have fewer distractions. This seems true; you tend to receive fewer notifications and encounter fewer people, with housemates attending lectures, jobs, or still sleeping! The morning is when people are their most creative, ideas flowing freely without a day’s worth of thoughts weighing on the mind. Completing assignments in the morning reduces daily stress because you have the rest of the day to do things you enjoy. This frees up afternoons and evenings for your favourite hobbies and socialising with friends. Having something to look forward to is a great incentive to finish tedious work. A reward system is created which motivates you to study but also ensures you take time out from staring at a laptop, crucially without feeling guilty for doing so. By working in the mornings, you can achieve a success - ful work-life balance, which is no mean feat. Remember that you should study at whatever time works best for you. Some people are destined to be night owls. However, think back to the number of evenings you have spent watching television or on your phone, too tired to imagine doing anything else. Is this really the time of day in which you feel most able to concentrate?

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, wakes up at 3:45am and look where that got him. So, set that alarm even just 15 minutes earlier and reap the benefits of morning study!

Alice Coe

WHILE an early riser is often praised for being productive before many of us have even woken up, some prefer to burn the midnight oil. Perhaps it’s just the English student in me, but there is something calming about writing assignments at night. With the rain pouring (as it so often does in Devon) and the outside world asleep, studying at night offers less distraction. As a student, choosing to study late may interfere with social plans, however, with a sensible balance you are more than capable of choosing both. I find I would rather study in the evenings as I can go out without the worry of impending deadlines, projects or reading. If anything, the added hour or two of sleep in the morning will feel much more enjoyable and deserved. Personally, my best academic work has more often than not been written at the midnight hour. For those of you who are yet to try studying at night, here are some things I would recommend.

Firstly, instrumental music is a must, not

Fillings

Get creative with your fillings! Experiment with savoury fillings as well as sweet — below is my favourite savoury filling which will hopefully inspire some of your own ideas!

Mushroom filling

1. Brush any visible dirt off your mushrooms (don’t wash them as this will affect their texture).

2. Chop up an onion and fry for five minutes in olive oil.

3. Add the mushrooms and cook both the onions and garlic for a further five minutes. Also add oregano and paprika if you have these.

4. In the final two minutes add grated cheese only does it keep you awake and provide some background noise, but the lack of lyrics cancels out the desire to sing along. A more obvious suggestion is comfortable clothes and a caffeinated drink. At night, time seems to pass quicker so it is important to make a schedule and keep track of your workload. I find writing two small lists the most useful, one stating tasks I need to complete and the other a rough plan of what I am going to tackle every 30 minutes of studying. Lastly, I would suggest changing your work location — even if this just means switching ends of the desk or from your bed to the floor — staying stuck in the same place for hours on end is not likely to help your creative outlet. While the question of what time is best to work remains subjective, I would urge you to take the time to try out both and work out which is best for you.

5. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Anabel Costa-Ferreira, Comment Editor