Senior kinesiology major
December, in my mind, is generally associated with the holiday season. I love nothing more than looking at Christmas light displays, decorating my family’s Christmas tree and watching countless Christmas-themed movies. Unfortunately, most of us are stressed to the breaking point trying to finish projects, write papers and study for finals.
I too have fallen victim to this and recently had to write a psychology paper for KNES 440: Psychology of Athletic Performance. The theme of my paper was the presence of cognitive flow states and the correlation between cognitive flow and peak performance in athletes. While writing this paper, I began to think, “Can I apply the concept of flow to help myself study for my exams?” I began trying to put this idea to the test, and I found that the practices of hypnosis and meditation and the presence of background music all assist people in inducing flow states that should increase their task performance.
Hypnosis may sound complicated and does require two people, but you can practice simple self-hypnosis alone. You can access all types of instructions online explaining how to perform self-hypnosis. Hypnosis uses mental imagery to enhance performance — specifically, recalling an event in which you were achieving peak performance. So before you study, attempt self-hypnosis by visualizing a time when you were studying at a very high level. Doing so should induce a state of flow and allow you to study at a high level.
For those who already practice meditation, it should come as no surprise that the activity is associated with higher levels of cognitive function. Meditating before studying should induce a state of complete relaxation and allow the mind to function more freely and seamlessly integrate more information. So find a guided mediation on YouTube before you study, and hopefully you can increase your studying efficiency.
The most easily accessible tool to induce flow while studying is the presence of background music. Some people might already have a way of doing this, but to those who have not tried playing music while studying, here is a way to introduce it into your studying sessions: Choose a song you enjoy and know very well and play it while you are studying. Playing that song should allow you to more easily enter a state of cognitive flow.
Hypnosis, meditation and playing background music may sound like offbeat ways to increase cognitive performance and might not work for all people. But if it could help you potentially get a higher grade in your course, why not give it a shot?
Ian Lacy is a senior kinesiology major. He can be reached at ilacydbk@gmail.com.
