Mac Monday: Essential Study (or Work) Snacks

...or for those of you that aren't lucky enough to still be in school:

Essential Work Snacks

Sorry to disappoint you all, but I don’t have a recipe to share this week.  Since it is the end of the semester, I have been bogged down (sadly not blogged down) with quite a bit of work.  I have the pleasure of writing one paper on property tax reform and its effect on education finance in the 1970s, 2 papers on Caribbean history, a presentation about the medically under-served population in West Virginia, AND 2 tests -- I'm studying for a test on the Classical tradition in America and one on the French Revolution.   I know, it sounds like a blast... Want to help?  Because of all of this, I thought it'd be more appropriate to share some of my study snacks and tips that help make all this work a little more bearable. 

Tip #1: How to avoid the caffeine crash after a cup of coffee or energy drink.

Energy drinks and coffee are great for helping you focus when you have to stay up late for some last minute studying or to finish up a paper. However, most people feel like they only have short bursts of energy and focus; they eventually have a caffeine/sugar crash and lose their energy.  This is because of the high amounts of sugar and caffeine in energy drinks and coffee.  Your body has to work hard to digest these materials, which contributes to the crash you feel a few hours after drinking them.  Digesting sugar and caffeine dehydrates your body and make you tired and sleepy.  If you drink a couple glasses of water (I set my sights on finishing an entire Nalgene bottle) after finishing your coffee or energy drink, you will stay awake and focused much longer and avoid getting the jitters.  The only negative side effect is that you might need to run to the bathroom more often than you would like!

Tip #2: Healthy snacks will keep you going.

Personally, I love to snack while studying.  Potato chips, or some chips and salsa are an awesome snack to have while studying.  However if you plan on studying for several hours at a time, snacking on these can rack up quite the calorie count.  I discovered that carrot chips and sliced cucumbers are a much healthier snack and they help to keep you hydrated (which helps with the dehydration from the energy drinks and coffee).  Another nice bonus is that these snacks are not greasy so you won’t get your keyboard or notes dirty while studying. 

Tip #3: The right music makes all the difference.

I know this study tip has nothing to do with this blog but it is something that I have found to be key to successful studying.  If you study in a library or your dorm/apartment then you will almost always have some random background noise to annoy you.  Throughout the semester you should make one playlist for when you study and only listen to that playlist.  Make it songs that you don’t usually listen to and it is helpful if they don’t have works, or the words are in a language you don’t know.  This helps so that you don’t sing along.  Every time you study throughout the semester you should only listen to that playlist.  This way you train your brain to focus when you hear that playlist. If you always start with the same song, when you hear that song you will snap into a focused state and hit the ground running when you study.  I personally like to start off with Andrea Bocelli’s Con te Partio (one of my sister's FAVORITES too) and follow it up with Andrés Segovia’s classical guitar. 

I hope most of you are at the point in life where you no longer need to deal with the stress of finals and can use these tips for work.  But if you're like me and stuck in the misery of finals week, these tips should make it a little bit more bearable.  I’ll be back next week with a fun and tasty recipe for you to try out.  And if you're really crunched for time and desperate, wear a Camelback while you study.

Until then cook what you love, love what you eat, and good luck with finals.