绿帽换妻

Times are changing. During this unprecedented time, students, faculty and staff may find themselves home alone or under a shelter-in-place order with a roommate or entire family.

Neuroscientist and Cal State East Bay Associate Professor Pradeep Ramanathan recently shared tips with East Bay Today about maximizing brain power, minimizing distraction, and studying and working effectively while stuck at home, whatever the situation.

Do an inventory of your current challenges — study-related and personal. Don’t wing it. Actually sit down and make a list of all the ways COVID-19 impacted your ability to study. What are the pitfalls of online learning? Are you feeling anxious or depressed? Next, develop strategies for each challenge, whether it includes finding funding for better internet connectivity, time for meditation, or allotting time to study when there are fewer distractions.

Take care of yourself first —This may sound simple, but sheltering in place can make it difficult to get sufficient sound sleep, eat well (not just packaged foods), and exercise. Your brain needs sound sleep, healthy foods, movement and sunshine.

Carve out a study space — Although you may be competing for space with others in your household, get creative in marking out an area you can use to study or work. Let others know when you will be in an online class, studying or working. This will allow you quiet time to focus and hopefully ensure that you are not disturbed.

Find a schedule that works for you right now — There’s nothing routine about the time we are living in, but it’s important to set and stick to a schedule. It’s something we can control, not to mention the structure might help curb some anxiety. For items you can’t control (for example, an online exam or meeting scheduled at a specific time), work with those sharing your space to ensure a distraction-free experience.

Combat Zoom fatigue — While online classes and meetings allow for connection and eliminate the need to commute, these virtual meet-ups are also energy zappers. Video conferencing can place additional burdens and challenges to our attention. Our brains are working to take in not only what people are saying, but also to ignore distractors, such as what’s in the background, what we look like on video, etc. And we don’t benefit from seeing the usual subtle cues (body language, gestures, etc.) so our brains have to work harder to fill in the gaps. 

Also, think about whether it’s essential to have a video conference. Would a phone call suffice?