How I stay focused studying long hours in medical school

How do you stay focused for long periods of time? Are there certain evidence-based methods that work better than others? What works best and what have I learned in college, post-grad, and now medical school about focusing? In this video, I’ll tell you how I’ve maintained my focus and, therefore, maximized my performance when studying for long hours.

📜 Write Up - https://www.zhighley.com/how-i-stay-focused-studying-long-hours-in-medical-school/
📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/zachhighley/
🐧 Twitter - https://twitter.com/ZachHighley
——————————————————————————————————————————————————
0:00 Intro
0:25 Treat like 9-5
2:47 Do the worst first
5:00 Remove distractions
8:39 Take breaks
12:10 Keep the lights on
15:42 Outro

Sources:
1. Goodell KH, Cao CG, Schwaitzberg SD. Effects of cognitive distraction on performance of laparoscopic surgical tasks. J Laparoendosc Adv Surg Tech A. 2006 Apr;16(2):94-8. doi: 10.1089/lap.2006.16.94. PMID: 16646695.
2. Caldwell JA, Caldwell JL, Thompson LA, Lieberman HR. Fatigue and its management in the workplace. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2019 Jan;96:272-289. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.10.024. Epub 2018 Nov 2. PMID: 30391406.
3. Hudson AN, Van Dongen HPA, Honn KA. Sleep deprivation, vigilant attention, and brain function: a review. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2020 Jan;45(1):21-30. doi: 10.1038/s41386-019-0432-6. Epub 2019 Jun 8. PMID: 31176308; PMCID: PMC6879580.
4. Yin J, Julius AA, Wen JT. Optimization of light exposure and sleep schedule for circadian rhythm entrainment. PLoS One. 2021;16(6):e0251478. Published 2021 Jun 8. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0251478
5. NIH: Brain Basics, Understanding Sleep - 2019
6. Killgore WD. Effects of sleep deprivation on cognition. Prog Brain Res. 2010;185:105-29. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-444-53702-7.00007-5. PMID: 21075236.
7. Dijk DJ, Neri DF, Wyatt JK, Ronda JM, Riel E, Ritz-De Cecco A, Hughes RJ, Elliott AR, Prisk GK, West JB, Czeisler CA. Sleep, performance, circadian rhythms, and light-dark cycles during two space shuttle flights. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2001 Nov;281(5):R1647-64. doi: 10.1152/ajpregu.2001.281.5.R1647. PMID: 11641138.

Who am I:
My name is Zach. I’m a third-year medical student in Philadelphia. I make videos about medical school, entrepreneurship, and other cool things. I love trying new things and often mess up. However, every time I screw up I usually learn something. Whatever I learn I post either on YouTube or my website 🌐 (https://zhighley.com/).

I write a weekly newsletter 💌 (https://zhighley.com/newsletter/) linking the best things I read, watched, and listened to that week. Join the 2000+ that follow it every week!

The Gear I Use to film videos: https://zhighley.com/resources/#_YouT…

What I’m Reading: https://zhighley.com/resources/#_Books