anyone else get exhausted during study?

[atongmu]

or is it just me?

 

I find after an hour and half of independent study I get sleepy or need just need to stop studying.

 

Has anyone else have this problem and able to overcome it? Or do I just accept it as part of the full time work + family + study on the side?

 

 

[anonymoose]

Yes. 1.5 hours is not bad.

[Shelley]

I think that one and half hours continuous study is about what you should expect. I don't suggest non stop study for this long. Every 20 minutes I stop, stretch, have some tea or other drink maybe a biscuit, have a general look around, move or even walk to the window for a few minutes. Take about a 5 minute break every 20 minutes and you could probably study happily for a couple of hours.

 

If you find you can only manage 1.5 hours even with breaks that's fine. A little every day is much better than lots for 2 days then none for 2 days, because you have tired yourself out.

 

Also remember study should be enjoyable, you will retain and understand more if you are enjoying it.  If you are not looking forward to study and it is a chore rather than a pleasure you will soon put off studying

 

Happy studying

[li3wei1]

Yes, I think a more meaningful question would be, 'is there anyone else here who can do an hour and half before falling asleep?'. I sometimes find a paragraph is enough to put me into a coma. Sometimes the best time to study is when you're in a place where you can't fall asleep, like a waiting room, or on a bus, or balancing on a small stool over a pool of crocodiles.

[889]

I regard it as a good sign, a sign that you're really studying and really learning; it's easy instead to just drop into auto-pilot mode and go through the motions of studying without really concentrating. You can go on for hours if you study that way.

But it's also a reminder of the difficulties faced by those who think that studying full time will let them acquire Chinese by leaps and bounds. No doubt that works for some, but for most there's a limit. And dozing off tells you you've reached that limit, and it's time to do something else for a while.

[Guest]

If an hour and a half flat-out is tiring, it might be worth trying 'pomodoro' study stretches on for size - the gist of the idea is to study in 'pomodoro sessions,' with a 'pomodoro' equalling a certain amount of time (typically 25 minutes) and a 'session' being a certain number of pomodoros (typically 4). There's a small break of 3-5 minutes between each pomodoro and then a longer break (15 minutes or so) once a session is completed. Wikipedia has a lovely summation and can summarise far better than I can.

 

Try them out and see how you feel after. If you're feeling like you have more in the tank than usual, go for more! It's a handy way of balancing the need to produce productive work and the desire to procrastinate every now and again.

 

Aside from that, keep some water nearby. Dehydration while studying is a thing, and a thing best avoided at that.

[LiMo]

I suspect you've been taken in by those people that say things like, "I usually go to the library and study for about 8 hours after class, then I go home." What they tend to omit is that they probably took a s**t ton of breaks in those 8 hours. One and a half hours is definitely stretching it for most people, there's a reason films are only so long and plays and operas have intermissions. Follow the advice above and take a break.

[AdamD]

I've come to measure my progress by how long it takes me to get tired. As recently as last year I couldn't manage an hour of face-to-face oral practice at a time, but now I can manage two hours (with breaks) most of the time.

 

It also depends on the type of practice. I can chat to people via text for hours, and I can write and analyse characters all day, but I can only read grown-up books for half an hour before I drift off.

[atongmu]

great to hear everyones thoughts on this. I guess I shouldnt be too harsh on myself. having said that, I am not really satisfied with my rate of progress over the last few years, seems I have been stuck on learning hsk 5 vocab for a long time! 

[Flickserve]

1.5h of meaningful study is better than 4h of unconstructive studying. With full time work and children, 1.5h a day is quite good.

[imron]

Has anyone else have this problem and able to overcome it?

Learn to juggle!  Then, at regular intervals have a break, and juggle for a few minutes.  It's good for your eyes, and at higher ball counts it's also not bad exercise.  Either that or go with some other sort of minor physical activity - star jumps, skipping rope, pushups, whatever.  Just something to give your brain a rest and your body something to get the blood moving.

 

I second @Napkat's suggestion of the Pomodoro technique.  If you use iOS, I like FocusTime.  I'm sure there is something similar for Android devices also.

[abcdefg]

From #6 --

 

Aside from that, keep some water nearby. Dehydration while studying is a thing, and a thing best avoided at that.

 

Tea, not water. Keep some tea nearby. Chinese tea has been conclusively shown in several large, randomized, double blind trials to be at least 3.47 times as effective as water in acquiring new Chinese vocabulary, especially when using green tea or Oolong. It has been tested with Anki, Pleco, and Skritter.

 

Pu'er tea, on the other hand, sipped liberally while working on Chines grammar or syntax, is like putting jet fuel in the tank of your Kawasaki. Extensive research has demonstrated over and over that it enhances understanding of verbs and works wonders with appropriate pronoun selection. Scholars disagree about the degree of performance improvement, but estimates range between a factor of 6 and of 7.

 

If you are interested in reading further about this topic, I would direct your attention to a brilliant and definitive monograph published in 2009 by the Chinese Academy of Science entitled: "Magic in a Pot," lead authors being Chen and Yang. Reprints are available in PDF format through Amazon China. The article contains an extensive bibliography that would serve as an excellent guide to additional investigation.

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(joking alert)