Does your teen struggle to get up and going early in the mornings?
They can just about ‘rise’, but there’s not much ‘shine’? 😉
Or are they all ‘up-and-at-em’ early in the day, but tired and a bit brain-dead in the afternoons or evenings?
*Yup – Raising my own hand over here for that second one* 😉
Well, the good news is, this is all toooottttally natural.
There’s a lot of research out there about what makes us earlybirds or night owls and how these energy ebbs and flows vary between males and females and at different ages.
But how can students optimise this and *really* make it work for them?
Does your teen struggle to get up and going early in the mornings?
They can just about rise, but there’s not much shine?
They can just about ‘rise’, but there’s not much ‘shine’? 😉
Or are they all ‘up-and-at-em’ early in the day, but tired and a bit brain-dead in the afternoons or evenings?
*Yup – Raising my own hand over here for that second one* 😉
Well, the good news is, this is all toooottttally natural.
There’s a lot of bio and psych research out there about what makes us earlybirds or night owls and how these energy ebbs and flows vary between males and females and at different ages.
It has now been well-documented that teenagers are naturally later risers and some schools have even adapted to this and start their days later for students in the later year groups of high school.
But how can students optimise this and really make it work for them?
Well, once your teen pays some attention to their daily patterns (if they aren’t already aware of when they’re feeling most alert and when their best times to work are), they can then take action to make these these their ‘power hours’ and really maximise their productivity.
That means really ramping up their focus at these times and removing distractions that might slow them down or disturb their concentration.
Giving themselves timed bursts and specific tasks to get through in that time will also help.
They should also make sure that they’re tackling the trickiest tasks and those that require the highest levels of cognitive thinking and processing.
This includes creative tasks as well as those involving analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
Other more straightforward tasks can then be done in the lower energy times of day, so that at those busy times of year, ticks are still marked against on that to-do list, but with a little less brain-power.
Things like proof reading, filing notes perhaps, or doing background research for an assignment or essay task are good tasks to do at these times 🙂
So, have your teen get clear on their ‘high energy, high focus’ times of the day and then make these their *power hours*.
This’ll help them achieve their best possible grades by having them produce their highest level work at their highest performing times AND get these tasks done more efficiently.
And then perhaps they’ll even have a little more time to relax and recharge at those lower energy moments too 😉
I’d love to hear from you! Let me know whether your teen is an early bird or a night owl.
And tell me – what do they do to maximise their power hours?
Scroll down and tell me in the comments 🙂
Until next week, let’s make this a fantastic week!
Katie
