Barbara Oakley, an engineering professor, built on the concept of “learning how to learn” and turned her ideas into an online course, a TED Talk, and several books. One of her core concepts is the necessity of taking breaks while learning so that your brain can move into a neural resting state in which the information can be absorbed by your brain. (A New York Times article provides a brief overview of her core concepts.) During that break time, you should engage in a completely different type of activity to allow your brain to focus on something other than your learning task. One activity you might try is journaling.
You can approach the idea of journaling in so many ways but, one approach is “Morning Pages” which are part of the process described in The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. The idea of morning pages is to get the junk out of your head and onto paper so that you can make room for other things. Morning pages are a place where you can pour out anything you are thinking about or feeling and then put it away. She recommends writing 3 pages, by hand, every morning and not rereading what you have written. She provides a nice description of the concept in her video at https://juliacameronlive.com/basic-tools/morning-pages/. She strongly recommends following her rules to get the most benefit from morning pages. But devotees may disagree.
Do a quick Google search for morning pages, and you will find plenty of testimonials of people who have found great value in morning pages. And, just as many will tell you that the exercise is equally as valuable if you write more or less than three pages, use a computer, or do it at another time of the day. Writers find the journaling valuable because it provides the time and space to get into the flow of writing by doing something that is not high-pressure (like an outline or a paper). Others (mostly writers) rail against the concept because they see it as a waste of writing time.
What about you? Are you willing to take some time to do “One Weird Thing that Reduces Stress”? Don’t make a big deal out of it. You don’t need a fancy journal, just grab a cheap spiral bound notebook and start writing and keep at it every day. You might be surprised at the results.
If you don’t still don’t like the idea of writing, take a break anyway and stop by the library to spend a few minutes on the coloring pages, your brain (and maybe your grades) with thank you. 😊