Studying at Night: Night Owls Studying Tips and Tricks

Have you ever sat with your friend and realised that you don’t study at the same time? We always have that one friend in class who doesn’t study in the morning and prefers studying at night; if you’re that friend, then you’re not alone! It has been shown that about 15% of students are night owls who prefer studying when everyone else is asleep. They find themselves more energised and focused at night, which means that there are a lot of days when they need to stay up all night just to finish!

There are two types of students: early birds and night owls. Early birds are people who prefer to study in the morning and find it easy to both study and attend lectures. Night owls, however, don’t feel comfortable when they feel pressured, so they usually don’t really like early lectures. That’s why special studying techniques are provided to them. Helping them study better and get better results. 

Studying, in general, is a challenge for a lot of people. For night owls, studying is harder because they need to concentrate on both their lectures in the morning and studying at night. There are several things you can do to help you study better. If you like studying at night, we’ve gathered some tips to help you and make you know how to pull an all-nighter!

Problems Night Owls Face

In most cases, night owls are usually high school students who have classes that start between 7 AM and 8 AM; this results in them being late to school because they don’t sleep at night and, in turn, have a hard time waking up early. While college can be a little bit more flexible, no class will start at 9 p.m., which is why it’s important to at least have some sleep!

Tips for Studying at Night 

There are some things you can do to help improve your studying time at night. This is all to ensure that students are studying better and are getting as much sleep and rest as possible while not missing any deadlines or assignments. Let’s take a look at some of these tips that will help you know how to pull an all-nighter!

Create a Cheat Sheet

Once you wake up and before you start your day, it’s advised that you create a sheet of the things you want to do and finish that day. The trick is to know when to put these tasks. For example, if there is a task that requires a lot of concentration, put it at the end of the day, like studying at night. It’s better also to start your day in the afternoon, as you will be more focused and energised. 

Creating a sheet for a night owl is all about trial and error; you might create one that ends up not working for you, but don’t worry! This doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to finish your assignments; you just need to try a new method. Once you’ve mastered your schedule, you will be able to finish everything you want in time.

Prepare Your Work at Home

As a night owl, you have to face the fact that most of the important lectures might be scheduled in the morning because of the university’s schedule. To deal with that, you need to prepare beforehand at home when you’re feeling the most energised. Ask your professor what is the topic of discussion in the upcoming lecture and add it to your night cheat sheet the night before so you can come prepared and understand the material when they start discussing it.

Research the topic thoroughly and write your questions on a piece of paper to direct them to your professor. This will give you an edge while studying back home; it will also help you avoid feeling lost in the lecture. Preparing beforehand will help you a lot in your off-time as you won’t have to spend extra time trying to understand the curriculum. You won’t need to concentrate much or miss your lectures!

Take a Nap

Taking naps throughout the day has been proven to help students know how to pull an all-nighter!  Power naps help you more than you think. Since you are a person who does not sleep a lot at night, try scheduling your power naps throughout the day. Add a small 20-minute nap between study sessions or go home and sleep a bit if you have gap hours between morning lectures.

Your brain needs to take a rest to refresh and concentrate more. A nap will also prepare you for your late-night study sessions. In addition, taking naps will prevent you from sleeping all day long and staying up all night, as this may result in a messed-up sleeping schedule that will affect you negatively. 

Exercise and Meditate 

To study better, you need to sleep better. If you are one of the people who find difficulty sleeping, try to add a regular exercise plan to your schedule. Add the workout routine to your morning schedule, and try your best not to end your day with it. Try listening to music to sleep or just calming nature sounds that are currently found everywhere. 

Add a constant sleeping time to adjust your biological clock and learn to control your thoughts through meditation. Exercising and meditating every day will help you sleep better, since you already have a problem with that, and therefore study better. Meditation has proven to be a relaxing and effective exercise for people who are stressed and want to feel calmer. 

Turn off Distractions

Unlike early birds, you probably prefer to study alone at night, and that’s better for you! This also means you might lose track of time because of the lack of noise around you. Try to stay away from any distractions that might waste your time. You might have extra time to check your social media accounts, email, chat, etc., during the day, but make sure to turn everything off during your studying time to get the most effective studying at night time. Social media, email, etc., can be time-consuming when you don’t have people to warn you about the time.

It’s okay to feel like studying at night is hard, and we agree! You’ll feel like you have to turn your whole schedule upside down in order to study, but don’t worry! It’s doable to know how to pull an all-nighter and get everything you want done! And don’t forget, Winston Churchill and Barack Obama were fellow night owls as well!