How to study 12+ hours per day without hurting your

[NerfMonkey]

its really surprising to see how many people are willing to discourage a individual from making something of themselves on a physics forum

Yes, I agree; your post is a perfect example of why we need to encourage people to devote more time to studying (especially in the grammar department).

 

[hrc969]

To being on the level of a Harvard grad after a year: all I can say is yeah right! Being in the same class doesn't mean you are on the same level; I can sign up for Midevil French Literature 3 but doesn't mean I am on the level of Ezra Pond. Besides, four years of idle playing with mathematics combined with some solid study far outshines 1 year of straight study just in experience alone.

If you read my post carefully I never said I was at the same level as him, just in the same class. But this depressed him because he felt I was more advanced than he was when he was my age (and hence that I was smarter than him) and I was at a public school and he had been at Harvard. Also class in question is my proposed research area and while I might not be at the same level overall I probably surpass him in that are now in that particular area. Plus I have gained much more experience since then. Our respective fields are different so we can't really compare. However, just as ΔxΔp≥ћ/2 mentioned there are people that realize that someone is smarter than them and let them affect them negatively, I have also seen this and thought I would share my experience.

 

[Poop-Loops]

Get some exercise and take time to eat dinner. 15 minutes isn't enough to enjoy it.

Getting an hour of exercise somewhere in there will revitalize your brain and let you learn more. So even though you won't spend as much time learning, your brain will be working better, at least making up for it, plus your body doesn't deteriorate.

 

[MathematicalPhysicist]

I don't see how one can only do one thing for 12 straight hours.
I mean the maximum one can do for straight hours is for 8 hours (and it's usually for sleeping).
You are ofcourse overexaggerating about your learning time span at home.

And if you really mean it, so get a life kid.

 

[malawi_glenn]

yes, its not all about the amount of time you study, it is quality and what you are study. Go to lectures and lessons etc, get to know your classmates and some teachers.

We also mean: what kind of math are you studying now?

 

[RufusDawes]

Do you have Asperger's?

Hes studying engineering, was that a rhetorical question ?

 

[Sojourner01]

How do you study 12+ hours per day without hurting your bum?

Here's an answer: Don't.

If you're spending that long on a satisfactory-or-better amount of academic achievement, you're wasting time; working hard, not smart. Prolonged seclusion and inactivity is not at all good for you, and behavioral and even neurological problems can creep up on you from extreme isolation. The rest of the world runs to the beat of a different drum to that of study and reflection, and shutting it out just doesn't work.

I feel I'm wasting precious time. I'm being serious here.

It's a waste of time because you are wasting it, if I may be frank. Can you guess what the reaction of most of the truly visionary mathematicians to your approach might be? Probably "Get a life". Most people senior to you will have no problem with casting you aside and choosing to associate with someone else for having an overly anal attitude to one particular aspect of the field.

In my experience, obsessive study is associated with the following personality traits:

- Lack of social graces
- Inability to communicate ideas effectively
- A wholly unjustified superior attitude that places one at odds with one's peers
- Tendency to fly off on tangents that are unconstructive and a waste of everyone's time

None of these will help one iota in achieving anything meaningful in your life.

 

[CompuChip]

its really surprising to see how many people are willing to discourage a individual from making something of themselves on a physics forum

Nobody is discouraging anybody, in fact, I wish I had the patience to sit and study for even 6 hours straight.
Medical fact is, that sitting without physical activity for 12 hours is not healthy. Fact is, that not having any social contacts at all is not healthy.
I know from experience that it can be hard not to fall in both those traps, but you really should try.

Sorry to repeat everyone else in this topic, but if you don't want to become a 30-year old hermit with 90% chance to get a heart attack or severe thrombosis before your 40th birthday, you should really take the advise given.

 

[plutoisacomet]

Adderall or Ritalin will make anyone study 12+ hours.
That's the mark of a PHD(Post Homicidal Depression) candidate.
So who needs social contact anyway? Jeffrey Dahmer, Charles Whitman, and Theodore Kaczynski did fine with little human contact. LOL

 

[CompuChip]

Don't forget this guy

 

[mathboy]

Don't forget this guy

Who is he?

 

[plutoisacomet]

Yeah, I remember him. It's so easy even a cave man can do it!

 

[mathboy]

Ok, what if I spend 3-4 hours per day doing something else (that's not studying or sitting down) and then spend 8 hours per day studying instead. Is that ok then?

 

[plutoisacomet]

Actually guys I work full time, so I put in about 6 hours per day on Saturday and Sunday and about 2.5 hrs per day during the week.

 

[plutoisacomet]

yeah, that's fine mathboy. Or just keep your current schedule as is from Monday to Friday and commit the weekends to your friends and family 100%

 

[mathboy]

Actually guys I work full time, so I put in about 6 hours per day on Saturday and Sunday and about 2.5 hrs per day during the week.

A person working full-time and has no kids to take care of can still put in 8 hours of studying per workday (and this is without hurting yourself since you are still active during the day at work).

 

[dotman]

A person working full-time and has no kids to take care of can still put in 8 hours of studying per workday (and this is without hurting yourself since you are still active during the day at work).

Not really. You're neglecting some or all of the following:

-- travel time to and from work
-- meals
-- personal grooming
-- sleep
-- full time != 8 hr/day (oftentimes, ~10 or up is more the case)

And that's just off the top of my head.

It's simply not sustainable. Have you actually worked full time and tried this? Or are you just talking out of your you-know-what?

 

[Ki Man]

Back to the topic: Someone mentioned studying lying down. Have you tried that? Personally, whenever I'm not writing, I'm lying down on my bed.

I suggest you steer away from this if you happen to be tired and are studying after dusk though

 

[aXiom_dt]

Yes, I agree; your post is a perfect example of why we need to encourage people to devote more time to studying (especially in the grammar department).

that, on the other hand, is less surprising

 

[eastside00_99]

http://www.simonsingh.com/Fields_Medallist.html"

 

[Jax]

This is a serious question, even though it may sound funny: How do you study 12+ hours per day without hurting your bum?

Maybe it's worth your while to seek the advice of a doctor or physical therapist.

Perhaps your pain is due to poor posture causing too much load on certain muscles that are either weak or not acclimated to endurance. In this case, you could do exercises such as (powerlifter) squats or romanian dead lifts to strengthen your hamstrings, glutes, and back muscles. You could easily listen to audio lectures on an ipod while working out; go to iTunesU for free audio/video lectures. Listening to lectures after you've read on a subject will help to understand the material better anyways.

Or, it is possible that you have poor blood circulation. You could also use a bike machine at a local gym and use an ipod to view video lectures at the same time. Endurance road bikers might spend 8 hours on a thin bike seat with little cushion. If you're really hardcore you might use some biker shorts (because the shorts come with padding inside them). If you feel self conscious about wearing spandex-type material, mountain biking shorts have the same cushion but look more like normal shorts on the outside. You might also learn to fidget while you study. Shake your leg rapidly, it's basically like being on an exercise machine at low intensity.

Finally, you could always get out a little bit, like others have said. You could walk to whatever math lab there is on campus and offer to tutor. Tutoring may help you understand concepts better. Not only do you need to know the correct concepts, but you must now also know the correct order to explain them in. There you go, a couple transit breaks that will force you to get out of the house.

 

[lewis198]

Hi mathboy, on a serious note here, you have to think about your health. If you do not exercise for a certain amount of time per day, then your lymph system will not work properly, as well as your circulatory, muscle and bone system. You're setting yourself up for major complications in the future. You need to sweat, and moderately physically tax yourself every day.

 

[lewis198]

Wow, I honestly didn't read the above post. Sorry about that.

 

[Poop-Loops]

Are you people honestly suggesting he go to a doctor because he can't sit on his butt for 12 hours a day?

Humans were never MEANT to do that.

If he had trouble standing on his head for 12 hours a day, would you also tell him to see a doc?

 

[aXiom_dt]

Are you people honestly suggesting he go to a doctor because he can't sit on his butt for 12 hours a day?

Humans were never MEANT to do that.

If he had trouble standing on his head for 12 hours a day, would you also tell him to see a doc?

you're my hero

 

[Jax]

Are you people honestly suggesting he go to a doctor because he can't sit on his butt for 12 hours a day?

Humans were never MEANT to do that.

If he had trouble standing on his head for 12 hours a day, would you also tell him to see a doc?

Why do you stand on two feet when it's more anatomically appropriate to be on all fours?

Please define what humans were meant to do.

 

[Poop-Loops]

Why do you stand on two feet when it's more anatomically appropriate to be on all fours?

Please define what humans were meant to do.

You must be one deformed mutha...

 

[aXiom_dt]

You must be one deformed mutha...

i think Jax was suggesting that humans have not yet completely evolved the optimal anatomy for walking upright, in which case you should tell him that he was being silly and making a silly misinterpretation of your post, and further explain to him that, from his 'evolutionary' perspective, you meant that humans were not programmed to stay in one upright position for a lengthy period of time but rather switch every so often as comfort dictates; however you yourself should also note that only one person mentioned the word doctor and that the thread mostly revolved around the health of mathboy's social life, not his physical condition as was your impression.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I think Dr. James Brown has the best advice for this condition:

Get up offa that thing
And dance til you feel better
Get up offa that thing and
Try to release that pressure

Get up offa that thing
And shake it til you feel better
Get up offa that thing
And shake it, sing it now

 

[muppet]

I think Dr. James Brown has the best advice for this condition:

Get up offa that thing
And dance til you feel better
Get up offa that thing and
Try to release that pressure

Get up offa that thing
And shake it til you feel better
Get up offa that thing
And shake it, sing it now

This is my favourite post so far

In response to the OP, you simply can't sit for 12 hour stretches. Nor do I consider it probable that you can concentrate effectively for that long. I often something I've struggled with comes to me from my subconscious when I've taken a break with it and relaxed.
But I really want to ask mathboy a question. WHY do you study?

 

[mr_coffee]

wow...

You can walk normal, get up and stand for god sakes, you have no disability as you stated so don't act like you do.

Study while standing. Use your legs.

Some people would die to have the chance to walk again or stand again for that matter.
I broke my neck almost 4 years ago and its quite sad and it angers me to see people are out there that take their legs for granted like that.
From what you posted, it sounds like I walk more than you and your normal! Interesting!
I also have severe neurological pain constantly, so sitting just for a minute feels like I'm sitting on knifes and it burns like hell. I guess if you had that feeling constantly you wouldn't be doing your 12+ hours of studying.

PS:
People aren't lying when they say sitting that long is unhealthy and dangerous. I met a truck driver in rehab and I asked him how he got paralyzed and he said from sitting 2 long. He got such a bad pressure sore from sitting in the truck all day. He now can't move or feel anything from his waist down.

 

[Invictious]

You can try studying standing up for 15 minutes every hour.
Seriously, if you have that much of a passion in math, then I must say, if you're doing it right, you could be knocking on the doors of the Fields Medal.

 

[mathboy]

Update:

Ok, today I went to school where I had 4 hours of class, managed to do 2 hours of studying (between those classes), and arrived home at 3:30 (while reviewing the new theorems learned during the two driving trips). Very importantly, my bum is not sore right now and I intend to study until around 12:30. With only one meal and shower needed, that will give me about 8 hours of studying.

Thus today, without hurting my bum, I will get 10 hours of studying (and still do what's equivalent to spending full-time hours of a full-time job). No physical hurting, and still carrying out "full-time hours obligations." So if one day I get a full-time job (even if not as a mathematician), I can still get 10 hours a day of studying without any physical soreness and still maintain a fresh mind! I found my perfect solution. Of course, if I become a mathematician, I will get even more hours of math research!

 

[dotman]

Thus today, without hurting my bum, I will get 10 hours of studying (and still do what's equivalent to spending full-time hours of a full-time job). No physical hurting, and still carrying out "full-time hours obligations."

Ehh, I'm not sure how you came up with this, but you may want to check your math :-) What you outlined is not equivalent to full time hours; you would need to neglect the two hours you spent studying during the day, double the four hours you spent in class, and add some travel time in there. Also, what time are you getting up the next morning, if you go to bed at 12:30?

But who cares? You're not working full time anyhow.

 

[JasonRox]

Maybe you're psycho-path and don't see anything within the social realm.

In either case, get help. Seriously, you need help at this point. I wouldn't be worried about getting a life. That will come after getting help.