- #1
dkotschessaa
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- 783
College students are notorious for cramming, late night or all night studying, having too-heavy course loads, skipping meals, etc. Much of this is to be expected and in many cases unavoidable.
I'm a little bit older (36, I think...) and about to embark on my last year of undergraduate mathematics. While I don't have the brain plasticity of youth, I have a lot of motivation. Unfortunately, to do any work, I seem to require:
a) lots of sleep
b) to be well fed
c) to be slightly caffeinated but not too much, or it raises my distractibility
If any of these are missing, it's like I'm no good. (I also have reactive hypoglycemia, which makes me sensitive to diet. I really can't miss a meal or snack.)
After a certain time of day my brain says "no more math." Right now I have my schedule set up so this is not that much of a problem. But I am afraid grad school will be less forgiving.
Is there some other strategy for getting the most out of my day if I'm not having a "good brain day?" I suppose that even if I can't do any hardcore thinking, maybe lighter reading or just studying definitions or something. But also I just wonder if by "pushing through" I can train my brain to not be so dependent on external factors. Thoughts?
-Dave K
I'm a little bit older (36, I think...) and about to embark on my last year of undergraduate mathematics. While I don't have the brain plasticity of youth, I have a lot of motivation. Unfortunately, to do any work, I seem to require:
a) lots of sleep
b) to be well fed
c) to be slightly caffeinated but not too much, or it raises my distractibility
If any of these are missing, it's like I'm no good. (I also have reactive hypoglycemia, which makes me sensitive to diet. I really can't miss a meal or snack.)
After a certain time of day my brain says "no more math." Right now I have my schedule set up so this is not that much of a problem. But I am afraid grad school will be less forgiving.
Is there some other strategy for getting the most out of my day if I'm not having a "good brain day?" I suppose that even if I can't do any hardcore thinking, maybe lighter reading or just studying definitions or something. But also I just wonder if by "pushing through" I can train my brain to not be so dependent on external factors. Thoughts?
-Dave K