Distraction is a deceitful thief that masks itself as pleasure within our daily routine. It steals time right from under us and we often forget how much time we have lost until we take a glance at the clock and panic starts to swell in our mind. Since we were never properly educated on proper study techniques, we had to teach ourselves through trial and error. Collectively, my own experiences were able to teach me the misdirection of certain study methods while scientific research provided evidence of meaningful techniques that can improve one’s focus management and prevent distraction from being a part of our daily study routine.

One of the study methods that I have been trying to stop is staying up for many hours and receiving little sleep in order to study. A recent study from the Michigan State University researched how a lack of sleep can affect your ability to study by impacting your distractedness. The results show that sleep-deprived people have a more difficult time rebounding from distractions than those who receive adequate sleep. In addition, the scientists found that the increased distractedness among sleep-deprived people is related to a cognitive skill known as “memory maintenance”. This ability can hold relevant information in our memories and retrieve it efficiently.

The results disprove two main common beliefs. Firstly, it shows that when we are sleep-deprived, it becomes more difficult to recall information and apply it to our task later on. More specifically, it shows that staying up late to cram information is not effective since we will not be able to adequately remember it the next day. Therefore, our goal to retain as much information the night before a test is more effective by being well-rested. Secondly, staying awake for hours to study is not effective because sleep-deprivation can cause our studying to become impaired. Those that lack sleep have a more difficult time refocusing after being interrupted by a distraction. Ranging from responding to a text message to scrolling through YouTube, our impaired memory maintenance also affects how long it takes to regain focus. Therefore, it is not advisable to study while sleep-deprived since we will be wasting a lot of our time trying to rebound from distractions and regaining focus . Overall, if we want to improve our studying abilities and academic performance, receiving a minimum of eight hours of sleep is an essential step we need to take.

Another studying method that has a myriad of conflicting effects on productivity is music. Although the “Mozart effect” was coined from a study that believed music can positively impact studying, this result has many loopholes that can argue this defense. Many of us listen to music while we are studying and everyone has a different reason for it. Some many find it stress-relieving or that it provides endurance during long study sessions or perhaps it helps them focus on their task. However, despite these reasons, scientific research shows that focus is most effective in a silent environment.

A study from the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff concluded that music can negatively affect our performance on certain study tasks. The scientists conducted an experiment that examined one’s ability to recall information, specifically a set of numbers, with the presence of different sounds. These conditions included silence, music the participant enjoys, music the participant did not enjoy, a voice repeating the number three and a voice reciting random single-digit numbers. The results showed that participants performed the worst when listening to music and the best in silence and when the voice repeated the number three. This proves that music may impair one’s cognitive abilities when memorizing information since the songs have changing notes and words that can disrupt the brain from processing and remembering new information. Therefore, when the studying task involves memorization or while understanding a complex problem, working in silence, without any distractions, will allow the brain to work more effectively.

Lastly, distractions can be triggered by stress and we often relieve this feeling by procrastinating with enjoyable activities as a form of escapism. When we are struck with a difficult task or a heavy to-do list, the overwhelming emotions of negativity makes it easy to shut down and give in to short-term pleasures; whether it’s scrolling through social media, watching an episode on Netflix or eating more food than necessary. The root of solving the issue centers around how to calm down the waves of negative emotions as well as how to approach the tasks efficiently. Firstly, look over the list of work that needs to be accomplished and order it based on priority. I usually sort my tasks based on due dates and the importance of the task. This will give us a sense of order as well as a direction to start, which will prevent us from wasting time worrying about the amount of work that needs to be done. Next, in order to accomplish the tasks efficiently, you can try a studying method called the Pomodoro Technique. Pomodoro means tomato in Italian and was coined from Francesco Cirillo who used a tomato timer to measure his sessions in university. This technique is a time management framework that encourages one to focus and work within a given time period. Each work period is sectioned off into twenty-five-minute blocks called pomodoro session, followed by a five-minute break. The purpose of the technique is to instill a sense of urgency that will prevent us from procrastination.

Now some people may be thinking that constantly taking these breaks will be a waste of time and studying for long, continuous hours will be more effective. If you are someone that is able to completely focus for hours on end then this will not apply to you. However, if you often find yourself getting distracted during your “study” sessions, try to implement the Pomodoro Technique. Not only will the sense of urgency encourage us to solely focus on our task, this technique will prevent the burnt-out feeling one will receive from studying for long hours since we are given a small break after each work period. Overall, being able to set clear, daily goals and apply an effective studying method will lower our stress levels while increasing our focus management skills.

Altogether, if we start implementing these study methods into our daily routine, we will be able to accomplish more meaningful work every day. We don’t realize how much time we are wasting each day until a deadline crashes onto us with waves of stress and anxiety. However, if we start to recognize the distraction and catch it in the act, time will no longer feel like an enemy we are fighting against for success.