Nighttime studying

missmollie, ADN, BSN, RN · Jul 30, 2014

I'm a huge advocate for an early bedtime for children. I realize this depends on how old your children are, but I have found that if you can have them in bed by 8:00 it gives you time to study. Then have a set time you study every night from 8:00 until 10:00. Every. Single. Night. In the course of one week, that's 14 hours of study time, which isn't too shabby.

You'll get used to it and you'll learn to make the most of your study time. Best of luck!

GraduateNurseMom · Jul 30, 2014

I agree, try to establish an early bedtime routine with the kids. When I study at night, it has to be at my desk or the kitchen table. That way I am sitting up and alert. When I study in bed, I fall asleep and wake up with a bed full of notes and nothing accomplished. Hope this helps.

RN403, BSN, RN · Jul 30, 2014

I'm not a coffee drinker myself, but that might be helpful to you. Crunchy snacks, gum, cold juice, talking out the material aloud to myself also helped me stay awake and helped me retain the material better.

Waking up early @ 5 am on non-clinical days to get an hour or two in of studying before class was helpful in cutting down on the time I had to study at night. Also, find creative ways to study that could alleviate your nighttime study time such as recording lectures or yourself talking out the material and listening to it in your car on your drives to and from school.

Make sure you still find the time to get some rest though, that is very important. Always sleep well on exam nights. You can always wake up a little early to review those "one last things"

Good Luck! You'll find your routine.

Miss.LeoRN · Jul 30, 2014

I'm a night person, so the whole study thing at night comes easier for me. I'm usually wide awake come 12 and 1am, even as late as 3 some nights. Studying can be exhausting, but "before you go to bed" is (reportedly) one of those times when you do tend to retain information a little better. So long as your not trying to overload your brain.

If you can't find time or energy to study at night, fit it in anywhere you can. You don't need to sit down for 3 hours straight and study. You can do it in 20 minute sessions here and there. I have no idea how old your kids are, but when mine were young but past the age of viable naps, we had "reading time" and "quiet time". For quiet time, they'd spend 30 minutes playing quietly either by themselves, or together... which could be good or bad sometimes. During reading time, they'd pick a few books and they'd sit and read quietly. I now have teenagers who will go to the library, come home with a stack of 5 books, and burn through them in 4 days. It's wonderful. I'd also have my kids help me study, or at least... let them think they were helping me study. Depending on their age, you can have "study times" at home, give them some paper to trace and practice letters and numbers and handwriting, give them flash cards to quiz each other with, give them their own set of note cards to write practice words with and make their own spelling cards... never too early to teach them that learning is fun and important, and if mommy is doing it, then it's important! And feel free to explain that "This is mommy's study time, remember?".

Whatever your routine... START NOW. That way by the time you have to start classes and get into your own routine, you'll be able to work out the kinks and adjust, and figure out how it can best work with you.

HelloWish, ADN, BSN · Jul 30, 2014

Green tea, cool shower, and a 10 minute cat nap anywhere you can fit it in will do wonders! Maybe 10 minutes of exercise to get the blood flowing...Studying right before bed is really prudent because it recommended to study before bed and first thing in the morning for the most retention.

Also, during the school year I make my son get in bed by 7:30pm. I snuggle and read with him and I am out of there by 8pm. I do my bedtime routine the same as his so I will use from 8pm until whenever to do any studying I can. My son knows that is his bedtime and if he isn't ready to sleep he can look at books. Although, this year he is older and we will probably move his bedtime to 8pm.

Gottawanna · Jul 30, 2014

Awesome advice, thanks everyone!!

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Jul 31, 2014

If you're not a night person, you may want to carve out some study time in the morning.... It's amazing what you can accomplish if you get used to waking up at 4 AM. Speaking from experience here -- that's my norm.