The importance of a good study space, and how to curate your own.
BY HARRIET BENNETT WITH ART BY NATALIE WILLIAMS
After a long day at class, the warm comfort of your bed can look pretty tempting. Especially if you live in a dorm, there aren’t many options for study spaces, and you may end up resorting to your bed to finish your assignments. However, studying in bed has proven to be detrimental to both study and sleep habits due to distractions and messed up sleep patterns, which isn’t what any student needs.
Sleep is associated with your bed, so if you study in bed, you might be fighting to keep your eyes open. This could lead you to not finish your work or to turn in something you could have potentially done better on. Studying in bed is not good for keeping productivity up, so if you have a lot to get done, it's best to stick to studying at a desk in a chair.
Further, if you study in bed a lot, you will train your brain to think that your bed is the place to study. So, when it’s time to sleep, you’ll have a much harder time falling asleep because your brain won’t want to turn off. If you already have trouble falling asleep, you definitely won’t want to study in bed.
Studying at a desk in a chair is best for productivity and sleep habits, but there are things you can do to make your study space even better. First, you’ll want a space that is fairly distraction free. With roommates this can be difficult, but if you can put a desk in your room, that would be perfect. If you share a room, you can dedicate quiet study hours where both you and your roommate will be able to be the most productive. Make sure your space is clean, has good lighting, and has enough space for all your study materials.
Studying in bed is a bad idea for multiple reasons, and creating your own study space can motivate you to want to study somewhere more productive, which will allow you to get more done. Now you’ll be able to finish that essay you’ve been putting off!
