#optomstudies here with some tips for studying when you’re sick!
Tips for Studying at Home
- Wear something warm when you study. A hoodie of some sort is best, or just layer on your clothes. Make sure that you wear socks too; if your feet are cold the rest of your body will still feel pretty miserable. Don’t stay in your pajamas though, because firstly it just feels icky being in clothes that you’ve slept in whilst your sick, and secondly it makes it all too easy to slink back into bed.
- Listen to your body - there’s a point where you try and study all you want, but nothing gets in! There’s no point slaving away because it will just extend your recovery period and make things worse.
- Along that line of thought, take frequent breaks and get enough sleep. Shorter working periods and breaks works well because you can picture concentration as an exponentially decaying graph; when you’re sick it drops off real quick.
- Make sure you have good fluid intake. This will help to put off any headaches caused by dehydration. Plus, drinking enough water will help keep your blood pressure at a good level so that you aren’t feeling faint.
- Prioritise - you’ve only got a limited amount of time that you can stay productive before your body gives out, so if there’s anything at all you can put off then do so. Also, there are usually a few things that you need to do for others which you can shoot them an email and ask for an extension. Even if you don’t need it, ask for one anyway, and if you finish early then great! It’s always better to under-promise and over-deliver.
- If you’re finding it hard to think clearly about what tasks you have to do, I’d suggest you use an Eisenhower urgency/importance grid, and plot in all your tasks. Ignore all the tasks which are “Not Important” until you have some physical/mental/emotional facility to attempt them.
- Don’t waste your time doing chores or tidying up your study space so that you can be “optimal”. A lot of people kind of advocate this, but at this point, you’re sick and that will only waste what facility you have. Doing the very minimum you need to meet deadlines means honing in on the work. Nothing else is important.
- If possible, limit the amount of time at a computer; firstly, if your body is fighting an infection systemically, I’m sure commensal bacterial levels in all part of your body will be higher than normal. Your eyes will probably be feeling irritated if you’ve got a cold as well (I know mine always are :P) and staring at a computer screen when you aren’t blinking will just make them dry out.
- At the very least, remember to use preservative-free eye drops more regularly whilst you’re working on a computer (this is true whether or not you’re sick tbh).
- Plus, the blue light from the screen will keep you up even though the rest of your body is telling you to sleep; get f.lux for your computer or twilight for your phone.
- Try to avoid blasting your room with brightness. Even though you might feel like it would make you more concentrated, a lot of times, you feel more light-sensitive when you’re sick. So just choose an appropriate light level, nothing too dark as you’ll fall asleep, and nothing too bright as you’ll be distracted.
Tips for Surviving Compulsory Classes
- For classes that are compulsory to attend, take naps before and after so that you won’t fall asleep in them. Because optometry has compulsory clinics, tutorials and even lectures, I have to attend even when I’m down with a cold. What I usually do is to go as late as possible and leave as early as possible to maximise time at home sleeping.
- If you’re finding it difficult to concentrate in class, then just switch off the critical thinking and focus on copying down anything the lecturer says. It’s more important to not miss anything than absorbing things when you’re sick. Once you’ve recovered, take the time to go through what you’ve written down again since you weren’t able to absorb it at the time.
- If you ultimately weren’t able to attend a lecture or miss something during the lecture, ask your friends for notes. Support system :)
- When I’m sick, I will just take time off home-studying because I have a low discomfort/pain tolerance so I really can’t concentrate when I’m tired. It’s really unfortunate that you can’t take days off just to get better, but it’s best to avoid these situations in the future by not leaving everything to the last minute if you can!
- Don’t stay up late. Best if you can get the full 9 hours of sleep to allow your body to recover from a cold. You need more sleep than usual because it’s fighting an infection, but you’ll still need to wake up early to get to uni if classes are compulsory.
Finally, don’t expect 100% from yourself when you aren’t feeling 100%. It’s unrealistic to expect to get everything done and beat yourself up over it when you don’t. People will understand if you’ve got a raging headache or a really bad cold, so don’t feel afraid of asking for help or an extension or getting them to do things themselves when you’ve got too much on your own plate. Hope you get better soon!! ^__^
MY STUDY TIPS
All original posts at #optomstudies and see my study tips directory (web only) for the full list + kpop vocab lists + stationery + bujo spreads!
WHAT I WISH I’D KNOWN BEFORE UNIVERSITY STUDY TIPS SERIES
0 Choosing a Degree , 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10-1 , 10-2 , 11 Adapting to Uni Study , 12 , 13 Dealing with Lazy Group Members , Sleeping and Waking Up Early , Weekly Planner Printable Extra Space Sat/Sun and #answered questions
