Find yourself bursting with energy when it hits 7pm? Are you the sort of person that needs to set four alarms in the morning? If so, you'll be happy to know that being a bit of a night owl may actually suggest through research that you are a little more intelligent than most! However, you're not off the hook when it comes to revising for exams, sorry! You'll still need to put the hours in. Here are four night-time revision tips to cover you into those small hours.
Four benefits of being a night-time reviser
1. Peace and quiet
Heading into the night you are guaranteed to encounter less distraction and far quieter spaces than you would do during the day. If it's a 24-hour library it could well be virtually empty, if you revise at home then likely everyone else will have hit the sack. If it's peace and quiet you crave so you can concentrate on your revision, then nighttime, is your time!
2. Your energy levels
So a little bit about biology here then. Blood sugar tends to be at its lowest in the morning and goes through peaks and troughs during the day as you eat. Generally, this can mean that your energy is all over the place during the day, whereas at night your energy should be at a more constant level, leading to higher concentration. So, unless you're feasting on the carbs all through the evening, you will be more alert than you would be at say, 3 in the afternoon. Revising during the night? Your body is well up for it!
3. Beat procrastination
Well, if you're not sleepy then you are not going to be able to avoid revising by going to bed early are you? Get all that procrastination out of your system during the day. FaceTime your mates, binge Netflix, continue your research into making the perfect cup of tea, descend down a YouTube rabbit hole, binge more Netflix. Get all of those idle temptations out of the way. Face it - if you're revising late at night you are probably not really missing out on anything are you? Study at night and feel smug, you deserve it.
4. Be more creative!
Biology time again. Into the evening your frontal cortex (that would be a bit of your brain) starts to run out of steam - not bad news though, as this is part of the brain that concentrates on gathering new info throughout the day, so when it is less active the rest of your brain has a chance to speak up, so in short, you can become less distracted. Your mind is not struggling with day to day things, it begins to open up to new ideas and you may find yourself going down creative avenues you have not previously considered. So if you are revising, you are more likely to stay focused.
