It’s that time of the year again. The evenings are getting shorter, which only means one thing, the new school year is almost upon us. Now is the time to hit the ground running and build new routines to help you succeed throughout the year. It is important to have structures in place to help you succeed ahead of the academic year. We have put together a few tips to help you get back into a routine before the new year starts.

Sleep

Over the summer holiday’s it’s easy to slip into the habit of going to bed later and waking up in the middle of the day. That’s why it’s important to try to get back into a routine of going to bed at a reasonable hour and getting up earlier a week or two before starting back at school. School is mentally and physically draining without adding poor sleep and the shock of having to get up early into the mix. Sleep is so important when it comes to cognitive development. Your brain will not be able to function when it is lacking sleep, meaning that the quality of your study sessions is poorer. Work smarter not harder. So you should be aiming to get 7+ hours of sleep every night.

Organise the school essentials the night before

The night before school starts you should have everything organised. Read your school timetable and pack the right school books and stationery in your bag, have your uniform laid out for the morning, pack your lunch and have it in the fridge. That way if you do sleep through your alarm in the morning you’re not running around the house like a headless chicken looking for everything last minute. You want to start the year off right. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

When you eat

Our bodies are like clockwork, when you eat meals at the same time on a regular basis, your body begins to get hungry at that time. For example, people can tell the time based on how hungry they are coming up to their lunch break. Over the summer it was easy to snack whenever you felt like it, so you were not waiting for your next meal. Returning to school with set lunch breaks will throw your body out of sync and can have a knock-on effect on your attention span and energy levels in class. A healthy body equals a healthy mind.

Plan

Plan out your days and try to follow your plan as much as possible. Set aside time for homework, study, extracurricular activities, sport, social activities etc. We know life gets in the way, but if you have some structure you don’t tend to veer off track too much. Going back to school can be extremely overwhelming with talk of exams 'next June. Having a plan in place of how you are going to approach studying for the year ahead will help reduce that overwhelming feeling of where to start.

Get used to not having your phone 24/7

Having spent most of the summer on our phones, scrolling mindlessly on TikTok and Instagram, it’s easy to forget they are not an additional limb. Phones are the biggest distraction to this generation and for students, it’s no different. Most phones these days tell you your average screen time for the week and teenagers average screen time is 9-10.5 hours a day. If you really want to get into your dream course next year then you are going to have to reduce that to around 4-5 hours per day.

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