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As college students, we spend a fair amount of time studying. There are so many places you can study around campus, from the Lory Student Center to the Behavioral Sciences Building. Most of the buildings across campus have tables for students to sit and study at. 

However, despite the multitude of study spaces across campus, many students are still guilty of studying in the one place they should not: their bedroom. 

The best piece of study advice I ever got was from my high school art teacher: Do not study in your bedroom at college. Your bedroom should be your safe place, somewhere for you to relax and let the pressure go. If you try to study in your room, you will end up associating it with academics and stress rather than the relaxation and calmness you want. 

“Your room may radiate a sense of comfort but it will not give you the motivation to study like other places that are not your bedroom.”

I did not really understand how important this piece of wisdom would become, but it is now a huge priority when I think about my habits. 

Yes, your room is comfortable, and you can curl up with your favorite pillow and blanket while you look over your notes, but studying in your room actually has a lot of poor side effects.

Your bedroom should be your space where you can focus on aspects of your life that are not academics. Maybe you crochet, read or indulge in the pleasure of binge-watching a new Netflix series. But whatever it is, you should associate your room with the feeling of joy and serenity that your favorite activities bring you, not the fear you feel when you crack open a textbook. 

When you study in your room, it becomes easy to associate it with the stress of school. And if you cannot differentiate between your room and the stress of school, it might be hard for you to sleep. Studies have found stress can negatively affect your sleep and therefore not allow many adults and teenagers to get a healthy amount of sleep.

In addition to causing your room to be a point of stress, it can also decrease the effectiveness of your study session. Your room may radiate a sense of comfort, but it will not give you the motivation to study like other places that are not your bedroom. Especially if you study in your bed, it creates an environment that tempts you to curl up under the covers and simply “rest your eyes” for a few minutes. However, on the other side of the spectrum, the library creates a motivational environment for studying, surrounded by other students who are doing the same thing as you. 

If your bed is your go-to study spot, it also does not make it easy to lay out your materials like your laptop, papers, pens and flashcards. A desk in the library or even your kitchen table can grant you this space that a bed deprives you of. Therefore, you should create a good space for yourself to study. 

While it might be hard to get yourself out of bed, set yourself up to succeed and head somewhere else to study. Whether it be to the kitchen, a common area or even as far as the library, you will be doing yourself a favor in the long run.

Reach Hana Pavelko at letters@collegian.com or on Twitter @hanasolo13.