Some students sit up and study till two in the morning, and then wonder why so little stays in the exam hall. The problem is not the effort. The problem is that they have left out the sleep.
Sleep is not the enemy of study. Sleep is part of study. During sleep the brain files away what you learnt during the day, in the long term memory. It is almost as if the brain needs some down time to arrange the associations and connections that make a memory last.
Study at night, test in the morning
What you review just before going to sleep is what your brain files away most quickly and most efficiently. So there is a simple routine I recommend. Review the material just before sleep. Then, next morning, test yourself on it. You will remember more this way than if you study in the morning and test yourself in the evening with no sleep in between.
The reason is that we forget more slowly during sleep than during our waking hours. And while we sleep, we do not take in new things that push the old ones out. This is why people have always felt that lessons and presentations should be memorised at night, then revised early next morning, before the activities of the day make us forget a great deal of it. Even reading aloud before going to bed helps.
Do not mistake this for permission to postpone everything until the night before. This is only the last review of a topic you have already studied during the week.
Do not trade sleep for marks
Before an exam or an interview, get a full night of rest. Memory capacity can fall by as much as a quarter if you do not get enough sleep. I would rather see a student revise less and sleep well than sit up all night and walk into the hall tired and tense.
A short nap in the afternoon also helps. About twenty minutes in the middle of the day is enough to refresh a tired mind. Do not sleep for two hours and wake up groggy. Keep it short.
A relaxed body, an alert mind
There is something else we need, which I call focused relaxation. The body is relaxed, but the mind is alert. You reach this state many times a day without noticing, while you walk, drive, work in the garden, or watch a good movie. It is the best state for remembering. When you are tense, it is difficult to remember anything. Think of an object that has sunk to the bottom of a muddy pond. Even in a shallow pond, you cannot find it. In a clear, still lake, you can retrieve it easily. A calm mind is like that clear lake.
Here is a simple breathing exercise to reach that state.
- Sit on a chair with your feet flat on the floor, palms on your thighs, and close your eyes.
- Take two or three slow deep breaths.
- Now breathe in to the count of 7 or 8, hold for a count of 4, and breathe out slowly to the count of 12.
- Keep your shoulders and the space between your eyebrows relaxed. Repeat for about five minutes.
The counting is the most important part. In the first few days, your mind will wander all over the place. That is natural. If the count is too long for you, count up to 4 or 5 and start again, or count up to 10. With practice, you will reach the relaxed state within a minute.
Where to use it
- Before you start studying, spend a few minutes counting your breaths.
- On the morning of an exam, do the five minute exercise at home.
- In the exam hall, close your eyes and breathe deeply to relax your body. If you cannot recall a fact, breathe deeply once more and go on to the next question. Very often the answer will come back on its own.
- Before an interview, spend a few minutes on your breathing and tell yourself that you are calm and relaxed.
- Before a speech, practise it in this relaxed state, then see yourself giving the speech without notes, calm and clear.
Try this for one week
Tonight, read your toughest topic for twenty minutes before you sleep. Switch off the lights on time. Tomorrow morning, before you do anything else, write down what you remember. Check against the book. Do this for seven days and watch your recall improve.
This is one chapter from my book Train Your Brain.
