5 Tips for Surviving Morning Classes
Eat Breakfast
This seems like a no-brainer, but, trust me, sometimes you’ll be tempted to skip the most important meal of the day. When you’re late and in a rush, food is one of those things you’ll often forget or forego. Don’t. Breakfast will give you the energy you need to stay focused and keep you alert during morning classes. Plus, the last thing you want is for your stomach to rumble loudly in the middle of a lecture hall. Always keep something in your bag, even if it’s just a granola bar. Eating a healthy, well-balanced breakfast before you get to class is always preferable, though.
Go To Bed at a Reasonable Hour
Being tired every morning may seem like a typical aspect of college life, but it shouldn’t be. If you’re tired during your 8 a.m. class, it’s probably because you went to bed after midnight and didn’t get enough sleep. Sleep is hard to come by in the busy life of a college student, but eight hours a night can be achieved if you really try and cut back on the frivolous things that keep you up at night (ahem, Netflix). It won’t be fun and it won’t be easy, but rearranging your sleep schedule will make an 8 a.m. class feel just as doable as an afternoon class.
Wake Up Early
Don’t wake up ten minutes before class starts. The extra time to sleep may seem nice, but give yourself plenty of time to get ready in the morning before you head off to class. Setting your alarm as early as possible gives you time to hit the snooze button a couple times, make breakfast, and maybe even get a workout in before getting ready for class. The longer you’re awake before your morning class starts, the less tired you’ll feel when you arrive.
Do Your Homework the Night Before (or Sooner)
If you’re used to putting off assignments until the last minute, that won’t work with morning classes. If you think you’ll have time in the morning to squeeze in writing a paper or completing a worksheet, you’re wrong. In the morning rush, there’s no time for additional chores, and if you suddenly remember first thing in the morning that you forgot to do an assignment, you’re out of luck. Double check that you’ve done all of your homework the night before, and give morning classes first priority when you sit down to complete your assignments.
Schedule Them Back to Back
Multiple morning classes may sound like torture, but it’s not as bad as you think. If you have an 8 a.m. followed by a 9 a.m. and even a 10 a.m., your school day is set to finish fairly early. That leaves your entire afternoon, the time when you’re most energetic and most productive, to do whatever you want, whether that be work, homework, or extracurriculars. Why spend the best part of your day cramped up in the classroom? Get school over with as fast as possible and enjoy the rest of daylight. Plus, having multiple morning classes back to back makes it hard for you to skip them. It’s easy to develop a bad habit of sleeping through an 8 a.m. every once in a while, but you can’t skip all of your classes that way. Scheduling all your classes early forces you to wake up in time.