How did Prophet Muhammad keep himself clean without using soap?

Is studying at night good or bad? 

 

Instead of asking a yes or no question, you’re better off asking what are the benefits of studying late at night.

There aren’t many.

Actually, leaving your studying for nighttime can backfire on you in many ways. You can feel sleepy which will decrease your focus. You can get distracted by other things like TV, social media, or chatting with friends and family members. At some point your brain will start shutting down. Your willpower to keep going will diminish. You’ll want to sleep, and if you don’t get any sleep you will feel groggy the next day. Your cognitive capacity to recall what you’ve learned will also be lower due to lack of sleep.

These are all important factors to consider. I’m saying this to give you a reality check because lately there has been a whole movement of “studying like hell” with You Tubers streaming all-night study sessions and promoting a student lifestyle that is not realistic. They’re not telling you how they’re feeling the next day, and often times you’ll notice them snacking throughout the night on junk food and candy bars, as well as drinking caffeinated beverages to stay awake. Nobody is talking about it, but their bleary-eyed look makes them look like robots, or maybe zombies, as they rock back and forth at their desk trying to memorize the course material.

Is that really how you want to spend your high school or college years?

I would advise you to use your critical thinking skills and not follow what others are doing. If you want to optimize the way your brain works so you can achieve the results you want (i.e. get good grades and pass all your exams), you’ll have to take better care of your brain. Train it. Give it what it needs, at the time when it needs it the most. Let it rest. And when you do all these things, your brain will perform and even outperform better than you thought. Trust me on this. You need to be in sync with your supercomputer.

So, forget about late night study sessions and create a better strategy for studying. Here are 5 tips that will help you.

Brain training tip #1. Build a mental map for your day.

This technique is called building a mental model. It's a combination of creative storytelling, critical thinking, and visualizing. Here's how it works: you imagine in detail how you expect your day to go, and in doing so you train your brain to anticipate next steps and expect a positive outcome. For example:

• Visualize making progress with your work. Do this for 5–10 minutes before you actually sit down to work, either before you get up in the morning, during breakfast, or after eating as you’re sitting with your eyes closed.
• Think in detail about all the steps you will take. Visualize gathering all the materials you'll need, writing an outline or plan of action, creating and reviewing material, etc.
• Anticipate and identify challenges. This helps you prepare for problems so you're not surprised when they happen. First identify the problem, then find ways to resolve it: ask an expert, post a question to an online forum such as Quora, or designate a little extra time for problem-solving.
• Imagine a successful end to your day. Maybe you’re completing a big task or you're just starting a new project. Either way, celebrating small wins every day will boost your motivation and help you feel more positive about moving ahead.

Brain training tip #2. Tackle the most difficult mental tasks early.

Doing your hard work early in the day allows your brain to focus fully on the problem at hand, with fewer distractions. Also, you tap into your willpower reserves early — super important because you have more willpower earlier than later in the day.

• Why is studying early such a big deal? For most people, your brain’s peak performance happens 2-4 hours after you wake up. This is the time when your brain can focus on analytical thinking that requires the most concentration. This can be reading, writing, coding, analyzing, critical thinking, or problem solving.
• How early is early? If you wake up at 8, your peak time is until 12 noon. You can extend this time until lunch (1 or 2 in the afternoon) to maximize your peak performance.
• What if you get distracted easily? Turn off the volume on your phone and avoid distractions such as emails, watching the news or your social media feed. If you have trouble shutting everything off, try the Forest app.

Brain training tip #3. Divide up your study sessions with a timer.

While you want to remain focused for long stretches of time, you won’t be able to keep your brain fully engaged non-stop. That’s why a timer can help you divide up your day into manageable increments, so that your brain can focus in a more targeted and effective manner.

• Review new material. Set the timer to 30 or 60 minute increments to maximize concentration; or, you can also try the Pomodoro technique

• for even shorter time blocks.
• Practice for exams. If you’re prepping for an exam, use the review questions from the textbook or given by your professor. Then, use the Pomodoro technique to give yourself only a short time to answer each question.
• Hold an impromptu teaching session. As you’re going over new material and complex sections for the first time, write an outline of the basic points and then talk it through out loud. This helps you review, recall, and retain what you’ve learned in a much better way than just silently looking over the material and writing notes.

Brain training tip #4. Step away from your work to boost memory.

Have you ever heard of the Zeigarnik effect

? It’s a concept in psychology that argues that we remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than the ones we already completed.

• What’s in it for the brain? When we start a task and then interrupt it with a break, this creates a task-specific tension that can improve cognitive function. The tension we feel of still having to continue working keeps the task top of mind; the brain is still focused on it and can easily access the information and also remember it better.
• How can you use this to your advantage? Take frequent breaks during your deep work. When you take breaks during which you perform unrelated activities (reading a book, working out, running errands, or performing other physical activities), you’re more likely to remember things than people who are sitting in a room for hours trying to focus on one single task.

Brain training tip #5. Give your brain time to make the connections.

There’s a time for absorbing and analyzing new material throughout the day, just like there’s a time to let the brain sort all that new material out. The key is in understanding the importance of downtime to help the brain retain what it needs.

• Why is this important? You need some downtime in order to process all the inputs you’re exposed to throughout the day. Give yourself plenty of time to pause, reflect, and let your brain classify the information, make connections, and store the new inputs so it’s easier to memorize and recall at a later time.
• How can you do it? Go out for some exercise. It doesn’t have to be anything intense; it can be a 20–30 minute walk later in the afternoon, or a short bike ride, or a run. Getting your body active will give your brain a chance to take a back seat, unplug, and process what you’ve covered during the day.
• What else helps? Plenty of sleep. Being super productive does not mean staying up late stressing out. In fact, long-term sleep deprivation is a guarantee that your brain cannot function at optimum levels. Opt for a solid 7–8 hours at night, and ease into your bedtime by switching off your computer 30 minutes beforehand and doing something relaxing like listening to music, reading a book, or listening to a podcast.