Online study tips: Night vs morning (2024)

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Online study tips: Night vs morning? ›

Benefits of Studying in the Night

Scientists have found the best time for study! According to scientists, the brain is most alert and teachable at 10 am–2 pm and 4 pm–10 pm. (Source: Amber Student). If you would like to optimise your attention span and practise deep learning, then science advises you to study between the hours of 4 am and 7 am.

Get a good night's sleep

The extra effort put into late-night studying will be offset by reduced mental performance due to lost sleep. It won't help, so don't try it. Call it a night and go to bed; your morning will be better for it.

The young researchers have found that the time of day influences your brain's ability to learn--and the human brain learns more effectively in the evening. And by identifying at what point in the day the brain is best able to operate, rehabilitation therapy can be targeted to that time, when recovery is maximised.

Getting a good night's rest is definitely important, but sleep can also help with the recall of study material. Especially on those exams for which you only study once, it is better to stay up late and get some sleep after memorizing terms than to wake up early and cram.

Although new discoveries prove that timing may not be everything, it is important if you want to create and perform at your best consistently. That said, science has indicated that learning is most effective between 10 am to 2 pm and from 4 pm to 10 pm, when the brain is in an acquisition mode.

When it comes to retaining new information, napping has been proven to be even more effective than cramming. There is a delicate balance between napping just enough and napping too much, though. Limit your naps to 20 to 30 minutes, and plan for naps to end by late afternoon.

According to science, the best hours to study are between 10 am and 2 pm, from 4 pm to 10 pm. This is a time when the human brain is in acquisition mode. Science also indicates that the most ineffective time to study is between 4 am and 7 am.

The night before an exam should be spent getting in the right mindset. However, students often fall into these common mistakes: not having dinner, drinking too much caffeine, re-reading over their notes, cramming and not getting enough sleep. All these mistakes can result in them not performing their best the next day.

Do you memorize things better at night? ›

When you learn something new, the best way to remember it is to sleep on it. That's because sleeping helps strengthen memories you've formed throughout the day. It also helps to link new memories to earlier ones. You might even come up with creative new ideas while you slumber.

Your Ultradian Cycles Manifest Themselves in the Evening

There are 90-minute periods of heightened productivity and focus within a circadian cycle. Referred to as “ultradian cycles,” these bursts of energy allow your brain to perform at its best.

The quiet of night can also be a prime environment for creative thinking. During the day, we're often distracted by messages, Slack, emails and video calls to let the mind wander, which can lead to divergent thinking and the generation of ideas.

“If you're choosing between a few hours of sleep or an all-nighter, go for the sleep. Even short naps can help you feel and perform better. When possible, catch up on lost sleep with a few afternoon naps or early nights as your energy, well-being, and performance will still be impaired with two hours of sleep.”

When you're feeling tired, and nothing has been entering your brain for the last 15 minutes, it may be worth switching to an easier task or topic to keep the studying momentum going. With an easier topic to absorb, this maintain your productivity and keeps you on track with your study plan.

Many studies suggest that 2 PM to 5 PM are the most effective hours for studying. Their critical thinking and analytical skills also work best during this time. For some, the best time of day to study is the afternoon. Let's now look at a few benefits of studying during the daytime.

“Although it may seem like you are creating more time for yourself to study by pulling an all-nighter and cramming for a big test, a night of no sleep can actually worsen your test scores,” he says.

It is best to read and study in natural light during the daytime, irrespective of if you are using a paperback book or technology.

You can study effectively from 30 minutes to six hours per day when you space out learning over a long period and integrate proven learning methods into your study time. Such methods include interleaved learning, retrieval practice, transforming notes into different formats, and self-explanation.

A study at Penn State found that because our brain is already active during the day, the full extent of our cognitive function is impaired by nightfall, meaning that doing schoolwork in the morning is both healthier and more productive than late nights.