Surviving Finals
Eat and Sleep for Sucess
Blake Dedell
Issue date: 4/15/09 Section: Diversions
During finals week, college students everywhere pull late-night cram sessions and eat junk food. This behavior deprives them of the sleep and nutrition they need to achieve good test scores. A person requires a balanced diet, a decent amount of exercise, and around 8 hours of constant sleep per night to have high energy levels. High energy levels are extremely important when finals approach.
Studies have shown that all-nighters before major exams tend to hurt a student's performance rather than help it. During sleep, your mind goes over the information gained during the day and processes it, turning it into long-term memory. Lack of sleep can have a major impact on your ability to retain information.
Energy drinks and other caffeine sources can also be bad news. Most of them will give you a jolt of energy, but constantly pounding energy drinks down has adverse effects on your health, such as heart palpitations and headaches. What's more, caffeine stays in your blood for several hours longer than most people realize. This effect makes it harder to sleep and it can reduce the quality of the sleep you do get.
Plan time for sleep like you would for classes or a shift at work. Work around your sleep schedule so you get enough sleep to function properly. It is also a good idea to sleep during the night instead of halfway into the day. That way, you have a more natural sleep pattern and are able to get more done during the day when study locations are open. Making time for sleep also allows you to do something worthwhile during a break because places like restaurants and movie theaters are open.
Good eating habits are a necessity. Food is another source of the much-needed energy required for running at your maximum performance. Eating poorly, i.e. the constant consumption of junk food and soda, has a major effect on students.
Sugars and caffeine may give a boost of energy at first, but that boost quickly wears away and leaves you with less energy than you started with. This is especially true when you consume sugar and caffeine often and your body is more used to these effects.
Studies have shown that all-nighters before major exams tend to hurt a student's performance rather than help it. During sleep, your mind goes over the information gained during the day and processes it, turning it into long-term memory. Lack of sleep can have a major impact on your ability to retain information.
Energy drinks and other caffeine sources can also be bad news. Most of them will give you a jolt of energy, but constantly pounding energy drinks down has adverse effects on your health, such as heart palpitations and headaches. What's more, caffeine stays in your blood for several hours longer than most people realize. This effect makes it harder to sleep and it can reduce the quality of the sleep you do get.
Plan time for sleep like you would for classes or a shift at work. Work around your sleep schedule so you get enough sleep to function properly. It is also a good idea to sleep during the night instead of halfway into the day. That way, you have a more natural sleep pattern and are able to get more done during the day when study locations are open. Making time for sleep also allows you to do something worthwhile during a break because places like restaurants and movie theaters are open.
Good eating habits are a necessity. Food is another source of the much-needed energy required for running at your maximum performance. Eating poorly, i.e. the constant consumption of junk food and soda, has a major effect on students.
Sugars and caffeine may give a boost of energy at first, but that boost quickly wears away and leaves you with less energy than you started with. This is especially true when you consume sugar and caffeine often and your body is more used to these effects.
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