By Martin Castro (The Cascade) – Email
Is it ever an ideal time to study? Summer’s too hot and we’d all rather be outside, enjoying the sunshine. So winter must be the ideal study season, right? Well, if you’re like me, then at some point through the winter semester you’ll fall prey to the inevitable and inescapable winter blues. I know I should be writing this essay or studying for that midterm, but it’s just too dreary, just too dark and cold outside to muster up the energy that sifting through 20 pages of rhetoric requires. So, how do you resist the urge to recede into a cocoon of blankets and forego your studies for weeks at a time during the winter months?
Lesson one: fruit is your friend. The first thing you’re going to want to do is take a look at what you’re eating. Just because winter has finally set in doesn’t mean your plate has to mirror the desolate, gray, rainy wasteland that is mid-February Fraser Valley. This is where fruit comes in; not only does a colourful orange or a handful of grapes help to combat all that bland and flavourless grayness during the winter months, it’s also full of important vitamins and natural sugars that will energize you physically and mentally.
Now, you can’t just eat a shit-tonne of oranges and expect to do well on your midterm. Sooner or later you’re going to have to study. Scheduling is also going to make things indescribably easier this semester, especially when it comes to studying. Pencil in small but consistent periods of time dedicated to schoolwork throughout your week. This way, you circumvent sitting in the library for six hours on a snowy Sunday because you have a midterm on Monday.
The most important thing you can do, however, is to make sure that you don’t completely inundate yourself with schoolwork. Make time to get a coffee and catch up with friends, or read that novel you got for Christmas. A little downtime will give your mind a much-needed reprieve from the stress of classes and allow you to recharge.
Finally, it’s very important to get a solid amount of sleep this semester. After all, when it comes to mental health, nine out of ten doctors say that getting enough sleep is almost as important as getting enough oranges.
