All About That Quarantine Life (Experiences + Study tips)

November 27, 2020
by Yna

Classes Life Hacks

Studying in quarantine is something that none of us has ever done before, so for those of you who are feeling lost, well, you are not alone! As I have mentioned in my previous blog, this has brought me feelings of anxiety too as I was about to take my final exams (which all went pretty well by the way, yay!). As I have spent a whole semester of figuring out how to navigate this new setup (all while trying my best to look like I have it all together . . . lol), I have picked up a few hacks that some of you may find beneficial.

Develop healthy habits and routines

One of the benefits that many of us have found from doing remote learning is getting to skip the extra steps of having to prepare for and travel to school. With classes being held online, you really only have to worry about being presentable from the chest up (because they’re never going to find out if you’re still in your jammies anyway, right?) and traveling from your bed to your study desk right beside it. I am not even going to lie, I enjoyed being able to just roll out of bed and go straight to class whenever I don’t feel like getting up early. While this might have given me extra hours of precious sleep, in the long run, I realized it became an unhealthy habit I had adopted. I started from waking up at least an hour before class, to 30 minutes prior, to 5 minutes before, and there was even a time that I was late because I overslept (a huge shout out to my dear classmates who noticed I was missing and immediately gave me a wakeup call)! I mean, yeah, everyone has those down days when you’re just feeling extra tired and in need of more sleep; but I realized I had overused this benefit to the point that I had been skipping breakfast altogether for consecutive days. Over time, I found my everyday routine drastically changing — eating habits were disrupted and irregular sleeping patterns have developed — ultimately affecting my study habits because the lack of routine often left me feeling all over the place and unable to focus. And so, I really would suggest waking up a little bit earlier before class to give you some time to eat a good breakfast, savor your cup of coffee, take a shower, maybe do some reading on the materials, and really, to just get your mind oriented and ready for class. And honestly, who doesn’t love just getting a moment to yourself at the start of the day? Besides, how you begin your day kind of sets the stage of how the rest of your day is going to look like, so try your best not to start it in such a rush.

Set up your space neatly

Not only do you need to set up your mind, you also need to set up your space all ready for work. A cluttered environment = a cluttered mind! I ended up getting a new desk and chair that’s ergonomically correct for my workstation to facilitate proper posture, but this really isn’t a necessity. There are many ways to adapt and work with what you currently have (using pillows for your back, step stool for feet support, etc.) — we as OTs know all about this! I’ve had to experiment a couple times playing with different positioning of my desk that works best for me in relation to lighting, room temperature, and appearance on Zoom background (making sure the space behind me has low traffic to avoid bloopers during class, LOL).

Take breaks

I know, you’re probably already tired of hearing this; but truth be told, this new setup has got us sitting in front of our computers for most of the day — without us even realizing it! I admit, I, too, am a victim of this. The advent of technology has advanced the speed of information processing by a ton, that it’s getting harder and harder for us, humans, to keep up. Nevertheless, we still try our best to answer emails as soon as they get to our inboxes, and accomplish any other task that needs to be done “just to get it out of the way,” am I right? The to-do list goes on and the next thing you know, you had already been working for hours straight. And when you finally decide to take a minute to pause, that’s when you’re going to feel them all at once — strained eyes, pain from the neck all the way to your lower back, hungry stomach, tired arms and fingers from hours of typing with poor posture. This is why I really appreciate our professors who sees to it that they allot some time during the class to give us multiple breaks as our chance to stretch, hydrate, go to the restroom, or grab something to eat (to be honest, sometimes I even take a nap — just make sure you wake up in time!). You can also set up your own physical activity reminders at different points throughout the day using your smartphone or watch.

Get physical!

In relation to my previous tip, I found it helpful to incorporate exercise in my weekly routine as my form of physical activity to battle this increasingly sedentary lifestyle. Of course, it’s not like I just woke up one day deciding to start working out and then consistently did it. New routines take time to develop, so don’t be too hard on yourself! You really don’t want this to be another source of pressure for you aside from other responsibilities that you already have. What definitely helped me get motivated and stick to the schedule was doing it with my friends, who also happened to be in the same program as mine — leaving us with pretty much similar class schedules and free time to exercise.

Study in groups

Since we’ve already set up workout sessions, might as well extend it to study sessions with friends too! I know, you’re practically already in Zoom most of the day for classes so you might ask: why choose to add more hours on the screen? Well, for me, seeing other people (albeit virtually) so focused on studying gives me the boost to do my own studying too. Basically, one of us sets up a meeting and keeps it open for several hours where people are free to come and go. This gives everyone a little bit of flexibility since we all have other responsibilities in our own busy lives. As a bonus, if we do a great job focusing for a couple hours, we reward ourselves with a few minutes to chill and casually talk with each other (someone’s gotta be responsible in making sure we go back to studying, though!)

In addition to these, you can also check out Savi’s blog and find some tips on staying organized! I hope you find these useful for your own studying, especially those who will be taking their comprehensive exams next month. You got this! Best of luck to you all, and Fight On!

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