Things to Do After You Study

Many students study with little thought about what comes after their study session.

But what you do after studying could have an effect on how well you learn and remember new information.

Today on Education Tips, we will explore two no-cost ways that can help you improve your learning: wakeful rest and sleep.

Wakeful rest

When many students finish studying, they often go straight to another activity. Perhaps they look at their phone or computer. They might even play a video game or watch television.

But research suggests that resting after you study may help you remember what you studied.

The basic idea is this: by reducing your activity after the study session, your brain gets a chance to rest. Resting is difficult when you have too much stimulation from electronic devices, games, lights and so on.

While this might sound unusual to you, many studies have explored the benefits of resting after learning – what is called “wakeful rest.”

A study published in the Journal PLOS One examined how well older people who were in good health could remember certain words. In two different experiments, researchers found that older adults who rested for 10 minutes after learning new words had better memory of those words. “A period of wakeful rest immediately after new learning boosts free recall of verbal material,” the researchers wrote.

The results were strong even after seven days, they added.

A 2019 study found that both young and older adults were able to better remember, or recollect, information from prose passages after doing wakeful rest. The findings appeared in Neuroscience Letters.

This study involved 45 younger people and 40 elderly adults.

“Wakeful resting led to higher overall recollection in both age groups,” the researchers noted.

If you want to give “wakeful rest” a try, here are a few simple things to do. Rest quietly for five to ten minutes. Do not look at your phone, read stories or play games. Just limit the amount of stimulation you get. It is really that easy!

Sleep

In addition to wakeful rest, sleep is also important for learning.

The Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School notes that sleep helps people to learn in two ways. A report on the school’s website explains that “a sleep-deprived person cannot focus attention optimally and therefore cannot learn efficiently.” It also says, “sleep itself has a role in the consolidation of memory, which is essential for learning new information.”

Robert Stickgold is a doctor and sleep expert at Harvard Medical School. Speaking with the U.S. National Institutes of Health, or NIH, he noted that new memories can be hard to keep. “When we first form memories, they’re in a very raw and fragile form,” he said.

Sleep is important for forming memories. Stickgold told the NIH “you get very little benefit from cutting corners.”

The National Sleep Foundation suggests that adults between the ages of 18 and 64 get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep per day. Teenagers may need slightly more, and people over the age of 65 may need a little less.

Closing thoughts

Now you have two suggestions for how to learn new information.

Try to get some “wakeful rest” after a study session. Then try to get a good night’s sleep.

That’s it – a simple, no-cost way to help you remember what you learn.

You can include the ideas we discussed today with ideas we explored in other Education Tips stories. On those programs, we discussed what you can do before and during a study session to improve your learning.

I’m John Russell.

John Russell wrote this story for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

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Words in This Story

session – n. a period of time that is used to do a particular activity

stimulation – n. the action of fueling interest or activity in the body

benefit – n. a good effect or profit gained from something

boost – v. to increase or improve

prose – n. written or spoken language in its most simple form

focus – v. to cause (something, such as attention) to be directed at something specific — + on

optimally – adv. formal: best or most effective

consolidation – n. the act of making something stronger or more secure

fragile – adj. not strong

许多学生在学习时，很少考虑学完该做些什么。

但你在学习后所做的事情，会影响学习和记忆新信息的能力。

今天的教育小贴士中，我们将探索两种免费的方法来帮助提高你的学习效果：清醒状态下休息和睡眠。

当许多学生学习后，常常直接去做另一项活动了，他们可能是玩手机或电脑，甚至可能玩电游或看电视。

但研究表明，学习后休息可以帮助记住所学的内容。

基本的理念是：在学习后减少活动，大脑可以有机会休息。在受到电子设备、游戏、灯光的过度刺激后，是很难休息的。

虽然这听起来可能有点奇怪，但许多研究都探讨过学习后休息的好处，即所谓的“清醒状态下休息”。

发表在《科学公共图书馆》期刊上的一项研究，调查了健康的老年人记忆某些单词的能力。在两个不同的实验中，研究人员发现，学习新单词后休息十分钟的老年人，对这些单词的记忆更好。研究人员在文中写道：“进行新的学习后，保持清醒的休息一段时间，可以促进对语言材料的自由回忆。”

他们补充说，即使在七天之后，结果也很好。

2019年的一项研究发现，年轻人和老年人在清醒的状态下休息后，都能更好地记住或回忆散文段落中的信息。这些发现发表在《神经科学快报》期刊中。

该研究被试包括45名年轻人和40名老年人。

研究人员指出：“在这两个年龄组中，清醒状态下休息引发了更高水平的整体记忆力。”。

如果你想尝试一下“清醒状态下休息”，只需做几件简单的事。安静地休息五到十分钟，不要看手机、读故事或玩游戏。只要限制受到的刺激，就这么容易！

除了清醒状态下的休息，睡眠对学习也很重要。

哈佛医学院睡眠医学部的研究人员指出，睡眠通过两种方式帮助人们学习。该校网站上的一份报告解释说，“睡眠不足的人无法最佳地集中注意力，因此无法有效地学习。”报告还说

“睡眠本身在巩固记忆方面能够发挥作用，而记忆对于学习新信息至关重要。”

罗伯特·斯蒂克戈德是哈佛医学院的医生和睡眠专家，他在接受美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）采访时指出，新的记忆很难保存。“当我们第一次形成记忆时，它们是一种非常原始、不牢固的形式。”

睡眠对形成记忆很重要，斯蒂克戈德告诉国家卫生研究院：“走捷径没有什么好处。”

国家睡眠基金会建议，18至64岁的成年人每天睡眠7至9小时，青少年可能需要多睡一点，65岁以上的人可以少睡一些。

现在，你有两条关于如何学习新信息的建议。

试着学习后，在“清醒状态下休息会”，然后好好睡上一晚。

就是这个简单又免费的方法，可以帮你记住学到的东西。

你可以把我们今天讨论的想法和在其他教育小贴士故事中探索的内容相结合。在那些节目中，我们讨论过在学习前和学习期间可以做些什么，来提高学习效果。

约翰·拉塞尔报道。