How to Study at Night // A Comprehensive Guide for Students

As students, we often find ourselves only sitting down at our tables for a study session when the sun has set. We sit down and think to ourselves, “and yet another late night study session.” 🫠 But this does not have to be a bad thing! At night, there are fewer distractions and the whole outside world quiets down. This creates a perfect backdrop for focused study sessions. 🚀

A lot of us at team Voovo are night owls, including me! We’ve gotten some of our most productive and best work done at night and with this experience, we have created a comprehensive guide on how to make the most out of your nighttime study sessions. 💪📚

First, let’s set up your study environment!

Lighting is important 💡

At night, it can be challenging to have the perfect amount of light… this is why it is important to invest in a good quality desk lamp or lightbulb. When you have bad lighting, you can find your productivity being hindered by eye strain or even fatigue. We recommend you to choose a desk lamp with a soft light that doesn’t hurt your eyes, but offers just enough brightness!

Organize all of the things you need for your study session

It is easier to start studying and stay focused if everything that you need is right in front of you. So it is definitely worth it to take some time to organize all your notes, lecture slides, and books!

➕ Have some healthy nutritious snacks handy too, in case you need some extra brainpower during your study session. Some good snacks include nuts, dried fruits, and granola bars!

Listen, or don’t listen to music 🎵

Everyone needs a different environment to be able to study well. If you struggle to stay awake, lively study friendly music may be the solution for keeping yourself awake. On the other hand, the silence of the night might be just what you need to stay hyper focused on your studies. Do what is the best for you — open Spotify, close the door, open the windows, whatever works for you. 🚀

Second, prepare yourself!

Stay hydrated 💦

Optimum hydration is key to keeping your brain active and alert through the night! If you find yourself having a headache, the solution can simply be a glass of water. We suggest for you to keep a jug of water near your desk and your favorite glass to take frequent sips from!

Have a power nap 💤

A power nap can be 20 minutes or 90 minutes and will refresh you for up to 8 hours! One of the best things you can do is to have a short nap right before your night study session 👏.

Walk around a bit 👏

Taking a small walk around your home is a great way to get your blood flowing and heart pumping — allowing more blood to go to your muscles, giving them energy, and to your brain, preparing it for a focused study session!

Write down your goals 🤓

Knowing what your aims and goals are for your night of studying will help you utilize your time effectively. Take some time to make a checklist of all the topics or chapters that you want to focus in the next few hours. Having a checklist is super motivating because every time you finish a topic, you can cross it out and see how far you’ve come!

❗️Make sure your goal/plan is realistic and achievable so that you don’t overwhelm your brain and become counter-productive.

Now, let’s start studying.

Active studying

Because it is late at night, you might get tired faster than usual… this is why active learning is especially important. What is active studying and how can you incorporate it into your studies? Active studying is done when you actively engage with our study material... This can happen in the form of flashcards, discussions with classmates, etc. If you are reading a textbook for the first time, have a notebook handy to jot down key points or make flashcards at the same time! 📚 if you are using an iPad, you can open a PDF of a textbook and have Voovo flashcard app in split screen… then you can make flashcards as you read through your textbook.

➕ Add pictures to your flashcards, create mnemonics, and make flashcards out of diagrams. On Voovo, you can drag any diagram into the app and it’ll automatically generate flashcards from each individual text label!

Use flashcards

Whether you’re making new flashcards or revising old ones, flashcards are a great way to help put information in your long term memory. Flashcards are not only efficient but also fun to study with, because instead of simply reading long pages of text, you are actively trying to recall answers to questions! You can make physical flashcards or use an app to make flashcards -- Voovo is a flashcard app designed for students with features like diagram flashcards/image occlusion, voice flashcards, and many more.

Stick to your goals

Slowly cross out things from your checklist so that you can see how much you’ve accomplished and what topcis or tasks are left for the night! This is a great way to give yourself direction while also keep motivated. 💪 Studying at night is challenging, but it can be extremely productive!

Take regular breaks ⏰

After every half or one hour of intensive studying, give yourself a 5-15 minute break! During this break, you can check your social media, walk around, stretch, or just lay on the floor (turn on an alarm if you lay down!)… our brain and body need rest to be able to recharge. These breaks help your brain process all that it has learned so far and build both short and long term memory!

Don’t forget to end the night with a sleep

When you learn something new, the best way to remember it long term is to sleep on it. When you sleep, your brain is very much active! It is working hard to form new neuronal networks for all the things you’ve learned throughout your day. So even if you can only sleep for an hour or so, get that sleep in! 😴

Unlock your learning potential with Voovo: Effortless flashcards, powerful results

At Voovo, we believe that studying should be easy, efficient and enjoyable. Our goal is to make your study sessions more effective and less stressful, so that you can create a healthy balance between your academic and personal life. 💪

Are you ready to transform your learning experience? Download the Voovo app for free from the App Store orGoogle Play!