Last Updated on August 13, 2021 by David Shaw
Have you ever seen a study space of your friend or on the internet where it feels very pleasing to your eyes? Creating an ideal study space makes us want to stay there, thus helping us study better. As a student, you’re definitely going to be spending a great deal of time doing personal stuff, homework, and revisions in your personal study space.
Creating a beautiful or comfortable study space doesn’t necessarily require you to spend big bucks on fancy accessories or furniture if you’re creative enough.
By strategically incorporating and manipulating little things and natural features like the light, art, and simple decorations, we can easily create an ideal study space that we want to be in, which makes study sessions that much more enticing and a soothing experience. Below, we look into a few easy, cool, and effective ways to creating your ideal study space.
Set a Customized Lighting for Studying
Setting the appropriate lighting is crucial to the health of our eyes as well as avoiding tired eyes while studying. If you’re getting too little light into your eyes while studying, you might feel sluggish or get tired eyes very quickly. Next thing you know, you will be lying down on your bed procrastinating instead of studying.
For your study space, using cooler white to natural daylight range is the best condition for eyes while studying. However, natural light is only available during the daytime, so get a study lamp using LED bulbs and avoid fluorescent lights if you also study in the evening. Check out this lamp on Amazon that has multifunctional features that students might find useful.
By setting up a well-lit environment, it can also help set good lighting conditions to put us in the mood and environment to study.
Keep Things Tidy
Keeping a tidy desk not only keeps your mind clear of other activities than study, when you’re studying! A study by UCLA’s Center on Everyday Lives and Families (CELF) find that there is a strong correlation between stress and cluttered personal spaces. There is no reason why you would induce stress from messy studying spaces when you trying to study, so always keep things tidy.
If your study space simply has many small accessories or gadgets all over the place, reorganize it in a way that would look pleasing to our eyes. Maybe your study table has a bunch of electronic devices that need cable management, or you simply need to invest in a furniture rack or wall mount to store your things or collection. If you have things like bags that usually stay on the floor, perhaps invest in a multipurpose wall hook to hang your stuff. Stay productive by keeping a tidy space for studying by being at peace of mind while studying the next time.
Get a Comfortable Chair
Other than a good mattress and shoe that separates us from solid ground, students should know to invest in a good chair in college. Students spent an average of 7 hours per day in a seating position.
Investing in a sturdy and comfortable right chair can notably enhance the experience of your study sessions. Since you will likely study for an extended period of time in university, getting a comfortable chair will prevent very natural things like sweating, back pains, and bad posture.
Don’t expect study sessions where you only maintain the same posture for hours, you will have to move the muscles and joints around at some point on a chair. Other benefits and things you can find in a good chair should provide you good lumbar support, armrest, headrest, and good mechanical adjustments for healthy sitting posture.
Let’s not forget to mention that you should always consider office chairs before getting a gaming chair for college. Office chairs are often more comfortable and offer more comfort over style, and better value for money. To read about whether should you invest in a gaming chair in college, check out this article on our opinion of gaming chairs.
Believe it when people say you can get more things done when sitting comfortably, so getting a good ergonomic chair will not disappoint you.
Recommendations for good chairs (under $300):
SIHOO Ergonomic Office Chair – 5 Ergonomic Adjustabilities – Breathable Mesh Material – W-Shaped Padded Seat – 3 Years Warranty – Headrest pad
View on Amazon
Gabrylly Ergonomic Mesh Office Chair – Adjustable Flip-up Armrest – Breathable Mesh Material – 1 Year Warranty – Headrest pad
View on Amazon
KOLLIEE Mid Back Mesh Office Chair –
View on Amazon
Mesh Swivel Ergonomic Task Office Chair –
View on Amazon
Keep Clear of Distractions
Whether if it’s your laptop, phone, or other tech devices, you should keep them at bay if you don’t need them while studying. Study sessions don’t actually have to be very long to be effective, by dedicating short study sessions from 45 minutes to 1 hour is often enough for a subject each day if you’re doing it right. But like many students, they let such distractions get in the way thus making study sessions very ineffective.
By keeping yourself clear of distractions during each study session, you will also learn to discipline yourself to develop a routine. If you’re doing things right, you will definitely notice that you will spend less time absorbing or revising more homework materials than you used to without letting distractions hold you back.
If you prefer using incorporating the use of technology to stay focused during study sessions, try using productivity mobile apps like Flipd or Forest. Or you need the quickest and simplest solution like I always do, just switch your mobile device into ‘Airplane Mode’ to temporarily cut off from digital notifications.
Set Goals and Motivation in Front of You
It is totally normal for students to burn out and lose track of their momentum in college. Especially after going through a rough and stressful quarter, students often find a hard time gaining back the mentality and momentum they once had.
If you’re ever in that position, look up sources of motivation or inspiration from the internet and place them near your study spaces. Motivational speakers like Tony Robbins, Les Brown, Robert Kiyosaki, and many more make a living and fortune simply out of tapping into people’s mindset and awakening the inner energy and drive out of people using only the power of words.
If there’s simply a quote or picture that empowers or inspires you greatly, frame it near your study space and treat it as a source of motivation. Next time you feel really demotivated or looking for inspiration, look up to inspiring words or figures, and you can bet it works like a charm.
Control the Background Ambiance
People function differently under different conditions when it comes to their study environment. Although it might sound weird or contradicting, some people study better when they’re subjected to a certain background ambiance filled with noises.
Whether if you prefer a peacefully quiet or a crowded place full of chattering, subjecting yourself to your preferred background ambiance can help you perform at your peak efficiency when you’re studying.
If you feel you’re not in your element while you’re trying to study, you should try manipulating the background ambiance with a speaker, or try out more public spots of different ambiance like a cafe, bookstores, or common outdoor spaces.
As a person who likes rain, I find it soothing to study when I put on raining background noises on my headphone. If you prefer the companion of classical instrumental music or the noise you usually hear in cafes or outdoor nature, maybe try playing those videos with background noises on speakers which you can easily find on Youtube.
Remember, the atmosphere in a library is not the only place where you can study effectively, try experimenting with the background ambiance and you might find your optimal condition to study in.
Decorate Your Study Space Every So Often
If you are going to spend a great deal of time on study sessions in your personal spaces compared to other places, it is always a good idea to decorate or do a simple make-over from time to time.
Among the tangible benefits of a simple makeover of your study spaces include:
- Have greater desire to be in their home
- Feel a major sense of accomplishment after a remodel
- Enjoy the look and functionality of their personal spaces more
Even the most beautiful home or design wouldn’t feel permanent if you experience it every day. Hence a simple redecorating or refurbishing project can just help you enjoy being in your home or personal study spaces more. If you can simply stimulate or freshen the experience of a comfortable study space, it also makes study sessions feel less dull.
Simple things you can change in your study space:
- Get miniature plants or artificial succulents for on your desk to incorporate greeneries around your study space.
- Frames pictures related to your interests or quotes
- Play with the lighting in the room
- or shift the position of things around.
- Get wooden finish stationaries or accessories.
- Mount wall shelfs
- Get accessories or tools with different colors
Even the slightest changes like adding things to your study space can feel very different. A good and simple makeover can even only take you 30 minutes to make things feel very different, so let your creativity flow and have a great time experimenting with your study space.
Get the Right Temperature – Not Too Hot or Cold
Nobody likes to be studying in a place that makes you sweat or too cold to make you roll into your blankets. Instead of relying on air-conditional units or a central heating system in your home, we recommend investing in a box or tower fan, or a small heater. This not only does the job of keeping the perfect temperature perfectly but is also light on utility fees.
Some students are simply unaware of these convenient and how effective portable box fans or tower fans can help cool down or regulate fresh air in their room. Sometimes depending on the climate of the place you live in, you might need two fans to do the job well enough.
Keeping your surrounding temperature around 72F (22 Celcius) is the perfect temperature to help you study in your space comfortably without having to worry about sweating or getting too cold. If you’re mostly dealing with heat in your room, we recommend getting these great box and tower fans. If the air is cooler on the outside, direct air into your room using a box fan, then vice versa for the opposite situation. Tower fans usually do a better job at moving air around the room, which you can put in a corner of the room.
Set a Study Timer
Using a timer puts us more in the study mode rather than creating study space, but they’re equally effective. Our brain is naturally wired into output-based thinking, which is when we aren’t certain whether when will a certain goal can be achieved before doing a task.
More often than not, we procrastinate because we put the difficult parts of study sessions ahead of ourselves. When that happens, our brains resist the initiative to take the first approach to study sessions as it feels difficult, but to curb such mentality, we use a timer to stick to shorter intervals of commitments instead.
Using a timer to work on a task helps us function in input-based thinking mode, which essentially helps us focus on the work rather than the uncertain outcome. By doing that, you are working on revision and study sessions that feel more passive, which is essentially produces an effective result in the end. Here’s a classic timer device on Amazon that you might like.
If you think of focusing on fully dedicating a study session for 25 minutes of 4 repetitions with breaks in between, it feels a lot easier than a continuous 1-hour session. This is basically how input-based thinking works which helps you put in the study mode very effectively.
