Recover from the Summer Slump with these unique tips

September 6, 2022

Summer’s over! At least your summer has concluded. Officially the season does not end until September 22, but once you are back in school or college, it’s game over. Back to the routine for you!

The more quickly you can segue back into the daily grind, the easier you will find adjustment. Consider these tips for an easier transition:

  • Whether you are living in a dorm at school, or attending classes online from home, environment counts. Studies have shown that a disorganized living situation can reduce concentration, and increase stress levels. Clutter has even been linked to unhealthy eating habits, and resultant weight gain. Improve your mental and physical health for the semester by forcing yourself to clean up your study area at the start.
  • Stock up on ramen. Just kidding! We know you’re probably already stocked—you’re a student, after all. But a better plan would be to assemble a stash of portable, ready-to-eat, high-quality snacks. These will come in handy as mini-meals when you are pressed for time. But they will also help your ability to study and focus. Just as athletes prepare for competitions with pre-event fueling, you too can use food to prepare for exams and other tests of mental exertion. Best options? Almonds, walnuts, dried fruit, dark chocolate, apples and cheese.
  • You didn’t get hooked on some video game this summer, now, did you? Playing all day and half the night? Definitely not a practice you can continue now that classes have started (unless you decide to join the Capitol Tech Chargers esports team, but school still comes first!). But if so, there’s a terrific cold turkey solution. Give a friend or even an enemy your login, and instruct them to kill off your forces. Once they have been vanquished, you’re a noob again, and you’ll be much less invested in playing.
  • Of course knowledge is its own reward, but a delicious breakfast beverage can’t hurt in making that first class of the day more appealing. Allow yourself a two-week grace period to adjust to your earliest class by sampling a different drink each morning. You may discover a new favorite, and the alarm won’t be quite as unwelcome for the duration.
  • Resolve to make this semester a memorable one by incorporating these unusual memory-boosting tricks to aid your learning:
    • clench your right fist while studying new information such as coding languages or complex math equations, and then clench the left one when recalling it. Yes, scientists at Montclair State actually ran studies to come up with this suggestion;
    • start chewing gum. Recall of information can be improved by up to 20% due to increased brain blood flow while chewing. So technically this concept might operate equally well by gobbling pizza, but the gum is easier to carry in your pocket;
    • stay focused and hew to a challenging schedule better by scenting your immediate vicinity with rosemary oil (only the real stuff, derived from the herb). The National Library of Medicine has documented multiple studies on the herb’s positive clinical effects on learning and memory.

So there you have it. Plenty of tips on how to make this new semester a success, and to hit the ground running after your summer off. And more importantly, to help propel you one semester closer to graduation!
 

Works cited:

14 healthy study snacks to keep you focused in 2022. SnackNation. (2022, May 29). Retrieved September 6, 2022, from https://snacknation.com/blog/healthy-study-snacks/

Blog. 6 Tips for Going Back to Work after Summer Vacation. (n.d.). Retrieved September 6, 2022, from https://www.freedomvoice.com/blog/6-tips-going-back-work-after-summer-vacation 

Czekala, B. (2022, May 23). 10 bizarre ways to improve your memory and mental performance. The Universe Of Memory. Retrieved September 6, 2022, from https://universeofmemory.com/10-bizarre-ways-to-improve-your-memory/ 

Ghasemzadeh Rahbardar, M., & Hosseinzadeh, H. (2020, September). Therapeutic effects of rosemary (rosmarinus officinalis L.) and its active constituents on nervous system disorders. Iranian journal of basic medical sciences. Retrieved September 6, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7491497/ 

What does clutter do to your brain and body? NewsGP. (n.d.). Retrieved September 6, 2022, from https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/what-does-clutter-do-to-your-brain-and-body#:~:text=But%20research%20shows%20disorganisation%20and,can%20reduce%20our%20working%20memory.