How to study 12+ hours per day without hurting your

[mathboy]

This is a serious question, even though it may sound funny: How do you study 12+ hours per day without hurting your bum? I have a nice office chair, well-padded, yet my bum hurts from my 12+ hour daily studying (literally sitting on the chair for 12 hours per day). Anyone else go through this and how do you cope with it? I need to study 12+ hours per day (it's like food to me, seriously).

 

[vincebs]

Instead of studying 12+ hours a day, do the following:
1.) Get outside
2.) Make some friends
3.) Get some exercise.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

 

[fizziks]

I would suggest you get up and walk around for 15 minutes every hour.
Don't let it hurt your social life. At least a World of Warcraft player talks to a real life human being on the other side of the internet when he/she plays.

 

[ΔxΔp≥ћ/2]

I admire your ability to stydy 12 hours staight and not fall asleep.

I have never gone so long, but the trick is do not sit for 12 hours straight. At the very least, move around a little. Study laying on your bed or a couch. Take a walk every now and then, it will wake you up. That was the politically correct version...

...But really the truth is, you get used to it. :)

 

[mathboy]

I would suggest you get up and walk around for 15 minutes every hour.

Don't let it hurt your social life.

We'll I eat dinner between by 12 hour study period, that's my 15 minutes break, yet my bum still hurts. As for a social life, my best friends are my textbooks. Socializing with so-called "friends" have gotten me nowhere in the past.

So everyone is saying that the only solution to my problem is to cut down on my studying time? My brain only gets tired after 12 hours, and if I don't study during those 12 hours (which I really love doing), I feel I'm wasting precious time. I'm being serious here.

 

[fizziks]

We'll I eat dinner between by 12 hour study period, that's my 15 minutes break, yet my bum still hurts. As for a social life, my best friends are my textbooks. Socializing with so-called "friends" have gotten me nowhere in the past.

So everyone is saying that the only solution to my problem is to cut down on my studying time? My brain only gets tired after 12 hours, and if I don't study during those 12 hours (which I really love doing), I feel I'm wasting precious time. I'm being serious here.

I'm being serious too. Sometimes friends and family are more important than career and academics, which practically everyone can agree upon.

 

[Kevinh]

Have three different chairs with different cushioning and change every 2 hours or so. That works for me (although I never did 12 hours stretch)
If you love reading so much, can you pick up some new reading topics ( arts,sport,...) and leverage your love for reading into going to a new area where you will enjoy life more.

 

[Cyrus]

We'll I eat dinner between by 12 hour study period, that's my 15 minutes break, yet my bum still hurts. As for a social life, my best friends are my textbooks. Socializing with so-called "friends" have gotten me nowhere in the past.

So everyone is saying that the only solution to my problem is to cut down on my studying time? My brain only gets tired after 12 hours, and if I don't study during those 12 hours (which I really love doing), I feel I'm wasting precious time. I'm being serious here.

Go out and make some friends!

 

[mathboy]

I'm being serious too. Sometimes friends and family are more important than career and academics, which practically everyone can agree upon.

Not me. I stayed home all Christmas day instead of being with family in order to get 12 precious hours of studying.

Have three different chairs with different cushioning and change every 2 hours or so. That works for me

Ok, that's the most relevant answer so far (to my original question). I never thought of that actually. I just might try it. I'm glad to know someone else has had this problem too. Is there a special name for the type of chair I'm looking for (one that is guaranteed to never hurt your bum?). Once I know the name for that type of chair, I can simply do a google search. My bum is hurting right now as I type. Thanks.

 

[Kevinh]

You can Google ergonomic chairs. Or "bum-friendly chais" (just kidding)
I would just experiment with hardwood chair / your existing chair / find another chair nearby,...It does not have to ne so methodical
Do not forget the second paragraph in my original responce

 

[vincebs]

We'll I eat dinner between by 12 hour study period, that's my 15 minutes break, yet my bum still hurts. As for a social life, my best friends are my textbooks. Socializing with so-called "friends" have gotten me nowhere in the past.

Do you have Asperger's?

 

[ΔxΔp≥ћ/2]

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

I know reading this stuff and becoming quite intelligent is very valorising. You don't have to deal with books like you do with people. IMO books are much better for you than a night drinking/doing drugs with friends. The books will not get you in trouble.

If you are not into folks, I suggest you pick up music. If only you knew how much it helps my thinking. Physicist and mathematicians tend to make great musicians.

Again, I admire your commitment. I wish I could study 12 hours straight.

However, putting all your eggs in one basket is not great either. Every day people realize that there are of people smarter than they are. Sounds funny, but many cannot deal with this fact. Some very intelligent people sometimes find problems or subjects that they find very difficult. If they do not meet their standards, should they study more? Too many people have gone nuts over the last two things.

If the above paragraph is not true, ignore it.

 

[Cyrus]

How old are you mathboy?

 

[vincebs]

A person's self-worth shouldn't be based on how intelligent they are. People have personalities and emotional bonds with other people, they are not simply machines for absorbing information.

 

[mathboy]

How old are you mathboy?

I'm a 1st year university student (with no disabilities), just trying to get ahead in math because I feel that my past socializing and dating (yes, I used to do that) has amounted to nothing but useless memories. I'm I gifted? No, just above average. But most of all, I enjoy studying math passionately (much more than the social interactions in my past). What I don't enjoy, however, is the soreness of my bum.

 

[Werg22]

I'm a 1st year university student (with no disabilities), just trying to get ahead in math because I feel that my past socializing and dating (yes, I used to do that) has amounted to nothing but useless memories. I'm I gifted? No, just above average. But most of all, I enjoy studying math passionately (much more than the social interactions in my past). What I don't enjoy, however, is the soreness of my bum.

Ahummm... Humans are a social species by nature. You can't neglect all social activity; it's not healthy.

 

[Cyrus]

Making friends and building your network is as imporant as studying math. Studying anything for 12 hours a day is not normal. There is no such thing as 'useless memories', btw. No social network means you are making it very hard to go anywhere in life later on.

 

[dotman]

At risk of feeding the troll...

have you tried standing up?

 

[ΔxΔp≥ћ/2]

Does your neck get sore or just your bum?

 

[fizziks]

Ahummm... Humans are a social species by nature. You can't neglect all social activity; it's not healthy.

I agree. And just sitting down 12+ hours a day isn't healthy either. If you love math so much, why not join an academic math club at your school? You know there are people out there that may share your interest similar to your commitment. Have you tried going out to the school's library to study? Don't limit yourself to just in your room.


Don't abandon all your memories of a social life. Networking is a great way to get jobs and interviewing skills are vital. If you cannot socialize with a simple person, you won't get far in life, no matter how much knowledge you have.

 

[hrc969]

I know reading this stuff and becoming quite intelligent is very valorising. You don't have to deal with books like you do with people. IMO books are much better for you than a night drinking/doing drugs with friends. The books will not get you in trouble.

If you are not into folks, I suggest you pick up music. If only you knew how much it helps my thinking. Physicist and mathematicians tend to make great musicians.

Again, I admire your commitment. I wish I could study 12 hours straight.

However, putting all your eggs in one basket is not great either. Every day people realize that there are of people smarter than they are. Sounds funny, but many cannot deal with this fact. Some very intelligent people sometimes find problems or subjects that they find very difficult. If they do not meet their standards, should they study more? Too many people have gone nuts over the last two things.

If the above paragraph is not true, ignore it.

I know some people like which you mention I'm sort of like mathboy and this got me advanced enough for me to start taking graduate math classes in my second year of university. There was a grad student in there who was a Harvard alumni and advanced for his age. It was very depressing to him that a guy like me was in the same class. Gladly I am not like that and I feel honored to know people who are more advanced than I am or than I was at their age. But yes it can be a serious problem for some.

Not me. I stayed home all Christmas day instead of being with family in order to get 12 precious hours of studying.

Ok, that's the most relevant answer so far (to my original question). I never thought of that actually. I just might try it. I'm glad to know someone else has had this problem too. Is there a special name for the type of chair I'm looking for (one that is guaranteed to never hurt your bum?). Once I know the name for that type of chair, I can simply do a google search. My bum is hurting right now as I type. Thanks.

Like I mentioned above, I am very similar to you in this studying a lot. I had one particular quarter where I took 6 classes (28 units) at a quarter system school. I ended up having 6 finals on five days. I did a lot of studying that quarter. I purposely chose my classes so that I wouldn't mind that much studying and still continue to study and extended number of hours. I thought that the post about taking 15 minute breaks was very relevant.
In fact what I do is that I take a 5-10 minute break. Not from studying but from sitting. During this time, there are a lot of times where I will just stand up and walk around and continue reading. Sometimes I go eat some fruit or talk to my wife or play with my son. But after a little while I go back to studying and no more hurting for a while. You don't have to even take a break from sitting every hour. Every 2 or 3 hours can be good enough. But one break for 12 hour study period is probably not enough. Oh I id have to get cushions also (4). But combining that with short breaks every hour or two fixed the problem for me.

Making friends and building your network is as imporant as studying math. Studying anything for 12 hours a day is not normal. There is no such thing as 'useless memories', btw. No social network means you are making it very hard to go anywhere in life later on.

mathboy, let me also support what Cyrus is saying here. I also use to hang out with friends in high school and was not as productive as I have been now. Now it is not impossible to build a social network and study many hours a day all at once. If you make the people you socialize other advanced math majors or other people who are passionate about mathematics then that's very good. If not then you can also (should do it even in addition to what I just mentioned) talk to professors. All of my professors have been very nice and willing to talk about subjects I am studying even if they do not pertain to a class they are teaching. While this is not the same as sitting there with a book and studying this can be even more useful sometimes. What you should do is find a balance between self studying and talking to others about mathematics. In this way you can learn more and you are still communicating with other humans.

 

[sadhu]

i am too a kind of person with little social interests
i find peace in my own thoughts, i do have a passion for maths and science right from my early childhood (well my child hood is not over yet)
i admire you for such dedication, but may i comment that don't study for your need ,just interest...
i am used to study 18 hours a day but that depends on what i study ...

what i only have to say to you is that
If you are truly interested in maths or physics , i bet you time does n matter , what matter is , are you satisfied or not.

 

[malawi_glenn]

Friends open up contacts etc for work. When you eventually apply for PhD-position you are then working in a team. The human body is not built just for sit on a chair, go out and exercise and make friends. Find friends that you can study togheter with at least.

 

[turbo]

There is a real medical risk involved in sitting for a very long time - deep vein thrombosis. If you don't get up and walk around a bit periodically, blood pools in your legs and can cause dangerous clots to develop, which could result in a pulmonary embolism.

 

[mathboy]

Ok, guys. I'm going for a walk.

 

[malawi_glenn]

mathboy: you don't want to end up studying in wheel chair or in a hostiptal right? ;)

 

[ehrenfest]

I also have the encountered the problem of aches due to over-studying. I have ADHD or something so whenever I am sitting I am always tapping my feet or tapping my hands or something. Maybe that is what makes it easy for me to study long hours. I would also recommend going to a library or somewhere where other people are studying because there it is less difficult to fall asleep and the environment seems to foster learning better.

The ache that I am most familiar with is my back, not my bum, and to solve this I usually just move to my bed or some chair that has a different contour or just shift my position.

As for your lack of interest in friends, I share that. But that is mainly because there is hardly any other undergraduate at my university who is really interested in math and physics like I am. If you go to a college with other strongly motivated math and physics students, GET TO KNOW THEM, and collaborate with them as much as possible, because your learning will increase multiple-fold when you work together. Otherwise work your bum off (pun intended) and get into MITs grad school, where there will be tons of people worth interacting with.

 

[mathboy]

Ok, I'm back from the mall. Having bought nothing and heckled by a salesperson, I must say that it was a TOTAL WASTE OF TIME. Back to my studying now...

 

[fizziks]

There is a real medical risk involved in sitting for a very long time - deep vein thrombosis. If you don't get up and walk around a bit periodically, blood pools in your legs and can cause dangerous clots to develop, which could result in a pulmonary embolism.

I would seriously take his advice. My mom's friend suffered from the same problems from sitting on her sewing machine and working 14+ hours nonstop. One day she suffered spasms in her legs and had to go to the hospital.

Ok, I'm back from the mall. Having bought nothing and heckled by a salesperson, I must say that it was a TOTAL WASTE OF TIME. Back to my studying now...

No it wasn't. If you don't want to take our advice, then you're wasting your time looking through these forums. Exercising or taking breaks from studying is not a waste of time. Spending 12+ hours a day on a desk studying is a waste of time. Life's too short to have your head into a book 24-7. Your health is by far more important than your studying. If you don't want to make friends and be remotely social, that's fine, but you can't live a healthy life of sitting down and studying the entire day.

 

[quasar987]

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.