should i shower or do my homework first

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What homework should I do first? The easy stuff or hard stuff?

Katie Azevedo December 13, 2016 good habits , homework , productivity , study skills , time management

By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed.

What homework should I do first?

This is the first question I often hear when a student feels overwhelmed with assignments. It’s also the first thought that pops into my own head when my to-do list runs onto page 17 of my planner! (Swapping out homework for tasks , of course.)

We all have things to do — whether homework assignments, work projects, personal goals, etc. But not all tasks are created equal. Not all tasks take the same amount of time to complete or have the same impact when they’re completed.

So how do students know what homework to do first — the big, daunting assignments? Or the small, quick ones?

The first answer: First do whatever homework is due soonest. Have trouble with procrastination? Here are some procrastination tips .

The other answer to ‘ What homework should I do first? ‘: It depends. (Least satisfying answer ever. I know.)

A classic Pros and Cons list reveals plenty of reasons to do the quick and easy homework assignments first, and plenty of reasons to do the harder tasks first. 

Despite the above advantages and disadvantages of tackling the easy or the hard homework first, there really is a proper way to approach your homework assignments that will set you up for getting more done . And here it is:

Do what works for you!

How to know what approach works for you

We all work differently and we all respond to pressure differently. If you are easily frustrated and are quick to feel overwhelmed when things get tough, then perhaps you’re the type of person who should tackle the small, quick homework assignments first. In school, start your afternoons by completing the easiest assignments: doing so will motivate you to move onto the harder ones. This is called “grabbing the low-hanging fruit.” At home, same thing: pick up a few items off your bedroom floor before you dig into your deep cleaning routine. At the gym, start your workout with a short walk to warm up before you hit something harder.

On the other hand, if you tire easily or get bored when things are too simple, then bang out the tough stuff first. In school, start with the biggest, most annoying looming homework assignments (even if they’re not due for a while) so you don’t exhaust yourself on the little assignments. At home, get the biggest project out of the way first (clean the garage!), and then pick away at the smaller tasks.  At the gym, go big or go home. (Or go big, go small, and then go home. Ha.)

What I do when I’m trying to figure out what “homework” to do first

Personally, I go back and forth when it comes to choosing which items from my to-do list to tackle first. Sometimes I start with the small stuff, and sometimes I “eat the frog” first. (I don’t really eat reptiles. “Eat that frog” is the title of an awesome book about time management by Brian Tracy. It’s an expression that refers to killing the big, gross assignments first.) It sort of depends on my mood on a particular day, how much free time I have (scattered moments vs large chunks), and what the task or project is.

So my final advice is this: If you’re constantly questioning what homework should I do first,  try both ways.

Try starting with the small tasks and see how you feel. Then another time start with a big task and see how you feel. Compare how productive you were (or weren’t) and how you felt during each approach.

Another idea is that you could start with a small homework assignment, then do a hard one, and then take a short break. Do another small homework assignment, do another hard one, and then take another short break. Keep going until you’re done with all your assignments.  

So this homework strategy looks like this:

Small Assignment + Big Assignment + Short Break (Repeat as many times as you need)

You can use this strategy over the course of a single afternoon, or over the course of a week. Or, like, forever, really. So the next time you’re wondering  what homework should I do first,  try alternating between easy and hard tasks, while paying attention to how much you actually get done. And then you’ll find your answer!

For a full tutorial on the 5 steps of proper homework prioritization, read this.

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Why taking a shower can make you more productive

If you’re one of those people who believe your best ideas come to you in the shower – you’re not alone. In fact, a recent study revealed that 72% of respondents believed that Shower Time was prime Thinking Time. That may seem counterintuitive, given that you’re more focussed on soaping up that hard-to-reach spot under your shoulders than working out strategy for your critical project, but science backs you up. Taking a shower can help you break through a thinking rut, get back on track when you’re unmotivated and get a good night’s sleep. And while you might have known all this intuitively, isn’t it nice when science agrees?

Showering helps you solve difficult problems

When you’re actively chewing on a problem, you’re engaging your conscious mind, which excels at logical thinking and problem-solving. Your prefrontal cortex in particular (the bit of your brain responsible for decision-making) likes clear, rational processes. And while this is great for keeping you behaving like a generally sane and responsible adult, it’s not great for when you need an Ah-Ha! moment that’s pure inspiration and creativity.

On the other hand, when you’re engaged in some mindless, repetitive activity, like soaping up your loofah, your conscious mind takes a break. This allows your unconscious mind or default mode network (the part of your brain that’s had the benefit of hours of quiet playtime in the background) to jump in with some truly innovative ideas. In other words, without the prefrontal cortex around to act as the nanny, your brain lets loose and really has some fun. And it’s this fun that often produces the best and most creative solutions.

Showering gives you a bout of fresh energy

When you’re in the shower, chances are you’re alone, warm, and comfortable. Your brain likes the warm solitude, and takes the opportunity to produce dopamine – the go-getter hormone. Dopamine is fueled by rewards (like successfully completing a task), so it gives you a boost of motivation. That’s why when your energy is low, you often find that a bracing shower perks you right up, and helps you get back to work.

The warm water also helps your muscles relax, especially your shoulders that have been hunched up at a desk or over a screen all day. The annoying crick in your neck that was distracting you loosens, and your body overall feels lighter and fresher. Additionally, the steam created by your shower helps to unblock your nasal passages, which might have been causing that mild headache you were suffering from.

Showering helps you regulate your circadian rhythms

You might have heard of the circadian rhythm , the mysterious body clock inside us which wants us to sleep when it’s dark, and be alert when it’s daytime. Unfortunately, with the plethora of electronic devices emitting blue light at us from every direction, our body clocks become terribly confused, and literally cannot tell day from night. With a few clever tricks, your shower can help you reset, with morning showers preparing you for the day, and evening showers relaxing you for bedtime.

In the morning, you want to take a slightly colder shower, to help you wake up. The contrast after your warm bed is invigorating, and helps keep you awake. The cooler external environment also jolts your internal body temperature to warm itself up and get the body going. For a more extreme (though apparently highly effective) wake-up, try the Cold-Hot-Cold cycle. After your usual cleaning routine, turn the water as cold as you can stand for 30 seconds. Follow this with 30 seconds of water that’s as hot as you can stand. Finally, finish off with another 30 seconds of cold. This method mimics the effects of hydrotherapy, and is supposed to supercharge your mornings.

Conversely, when you want to get a good night’s sleep, try a hotter shower in the evening. Your body temperature is artificially raised by the hot water, so when you step out of the shower, it drops immediately. Lower body temperature is a prelude for your body to enter the relaxed sleep state, so a hot shower within 2 hours of your bedtime will help you nod off.

While some people regard the shower as nothing more than a mundane necessity, now you know that it’s an unconventional and highly effective productivity tool. So, whether you’re preparing for the day ahead, or looking forward to a blissful night’s rest, look no further than your own bathroom.

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How to Have a Great Morning Routine Before School

Last Updated: September 23, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Lucy Yeh . Lucy Yeh is a Human Resources Director, Recruiter, and Certified Life Coach (CLC) with over 20 years of experience. With a training background with Coaching for Life and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) at InsightLA, Lucy has worked with professionals of all levels to improve the quality of their careers, personal/professional relationships, self marketing, and life balance. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 350,922 times.

Looking for a fun way to start your school day right? You've come to the perfect place! Below, we're walking you through all of the relaxing, productive, and fun morning habits that can set you on a path to success. Ready to feel great heading into school every single morning? Let's dive in!

Creating a Morning Routine

• Use an alarm on your phone or get an alarm clock to help you get up in the mornings. If you can, set your alarm to a song or radio station you like, since this may motivate you to get up.
• If you have curtains or blinds in your room, leave them cracked to allow light through in the morning. This will make it easier to get up.
• Reader Poll: We asked 912 wikiHow readers who've established a morning routine, and 55% of them agreed that the best way to do so is by setting an alarm. [Take Poll]

Tip : If you have difficulty waking up early and find yourself constantly hitting snooze and getting up at the last minute, try getting up just 1 minute earlier each morning. Eventually, you will be getting up with plenty of time and it won’t seem like such a big transition.

• Making your bed is something that takes just a couple of minutes, but is a good habit to help you become a more organized person in the morning. Not only that, but your parents will probably be happy too!

• Mint-scented body wash or face wash can help you wake up in the mornings.
• You can brush your teeth now if you want to or wait until after breakfast.

• Take a look outside and check the forecast again to see if anything has changed. Add anything you need to your outfits, such as an umbrella or rain jacket, if the weather is different than the forecast said the night before.

• For instance, if you have long hair, you might want to comb it after you shower to keep it from getting tangled. If you have short hair, you can put a little gel in it to style it for the school day or just leave it as is.

• It's a good idea to pack a bottle of water as well so you can stay hydrated throughout the school day.

• Avoid the temptation to sit down and watch TV or browse the Internet. Try to fill your mornings with productive activities that help you and your family get ready for the day.

• Even if it’s hard to do this all at first, keep practicing and doing your best. Having a great morning routine before school is all about creating good habits. You’ll get there eventually!

Getting Ready the Night Before

• You can put the final items, such as your lunchbox, in your bag in the morning. Just try to get as much organized as you can the night before.

Tip : If you need to get anything signed by your parents, such as a permission slip or homework, make sure to do this the night before so you don’t forget in the morning.

• If your parents prepare your lunch for you, then ask them nicely if they can do it the night before so you can have a great morning routine.

• This way, you’ll also notice if you happen to be out of clean underwear or another item of clothing and can wash and dry some so they are ready in the morning.

• If you use your phone as an alarm, then leave it charging across the room to force you to get up to turn off the alarm in the morning. This will help you get out of bed earlier and give you more time to get ready.

• Taking a warm shower about 1 hour before you go to bed can also help you relax and fall asleep easier.

• This means that if you have to get up at 7:00 in the morning, you need to go to bed by 11:00 at the latest. Keep in mind that if it generally takes you a long time to fall asleep, you will need to go to bed even earlier to account for this.

Morning Routine Template

Expert Q&A

Reader Videos

• Brush your teeth for a full 2 minutes in the morning to thoroughly clean them. [16] X Research source Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Don’t play on your phone in the morning or you risk losing track of time. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
• Get up and away from your bed when you wake up so you don't fall asleep again. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0

Tips from our Readers

• If you need to watch something in the morning to wake you up, make it's no more than 12 minutes. Don't watch shows that are 2 minutes long. Otherwise, you will just keep watching episodes until you only have two minutes left until the bus arrives.
• To make sure you wake up early enough, try your morning routine on a weekend or bank holiday to see how long it takes you. If you don't want to wake up early on a day off then you can always wake up later and rehearse the routine later on.
• If you're the one who always hits the snooze, some smartphones allow you to turn the snooze off. Then you will have to get up. Also, set your alarm to a really annoying sound. Just make sure it doesn't wake up your parents!
• Set your alarm somewhere far away from where you sleep. That way you have to get up to stop or snooze your alarm. At that point, you will already be up and standing. This will prevent you from going back to sleep.
• If you have trouble getting up, just set a time that's not too early, but will still give you the right amount of time to get ready. Stick to the time. It will make it way easier to get up in the morning

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://raisingchildren.net.au/school-age/school-learning/school-homework-tips/morning-routine-for-school
• ↑ Lucy Yeh. Career & Life Coach. Expert Interview. 21 November 2019.
• ↑ https://www.realsimple.com/work-life/life-strategies/time-management/morning-routine-for-school
• ↑ https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/breakfast.html
• ↑ https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/school-lunches.html
• ↑ https://www.nbcnews.com/better/pop-culture/12-tips-master-your-kids-morning-routine-eliminate-stress-ncna903106
• ↑ https://www.mouthhealthy.org/all-topics-a-z/brushing-your-teeth/

About This Article

It can be tough getting up on time and getting everything ready before school, but by preparing the night before and making a morning routine, you can do it. Set out the outfit you want to wear before going to bed, which will save you looking for clothes in the morning. You should also pack your lunch the night before so you just need to pick it up on the way out. Get up 10 minutes earlier than you think you need to, since you'll almost always take longer to get ready than you think. You should also go to the bathroom and splash cold water over your face or take a shower, which will wake you up if you’re feeling tired. Remember to eat a healthy breakfast, like cereal with milk or eggs with toast, which will give you energy for the day. For tips on how to improve your routine by getting ready the night before, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to Do Homework: 15 Expert Tips and Tricks

Coursework/GPA

Everyone struggles with homework sometimes, but if getting your homework done has become a chronic issue for you, then you may need a little extra help. That’s why we’ve written this article all about how to do homework. Once you’re finished reading it, you’ll know how to do homework (and have tons of new ways to motivate yourself to do homework)!

We’ve broken this article down into a few major sections. You’ll find:

• A diagnostic test to help you figure out why you’re struggling with homework
• A discussion of the four major homework problems students face, along with expert tips for addressing them
• A bonus section with tips for how to do homework fast

By the end of this article, you’ll be prepared to tackle whatever homework assignments your teachers throw at you .

So let’s get started!

How to Do Homework: Figure Out Your Struggles 

Sometimes it feels like everything is standing between you and getting your homework done. But the truth is, most people only have one or two major roadblocks that are keeping them from getting their homework done well and on time. 

The best way to figure out how to get motivated to do homework starts with pinpointing the issues that are affecting your ability to get your assignments done. That’s why we’ve developed a short quiz to help you identify the areas where you’re struggling. 

Take the quiz below and record your answers on your phone or on a scrap piece of paper. Keep in mind there are no wrong answers! 

1. You’ve just been assigned an essay in your English class that’s due at the end of the week. What’s the first thing you do?

A. Keep it in mind, even though you won’t start it until the day before it’s due  B. Open up your planner. You’ve got to figure out when you’ll write your paper since you have band practice, a speech tournament, and your little sister’s dance recital this week, too.  C. Groan out loud. Another essay? You could barely get yourself to write the last one!  D. Start thinking about your essay topic, which makes you think about your art project that’s due the same day, which reminds you that your favorite artist might have just posted to Instagram...so you better check your feed right now. 

2. Your mom asked you to pick up your room before she gets home from work. You’ve just gotten home from school. You decide you’ll tackle your chores: 

A. Five minutes before your mom walks through the front door. As long as it gets done, who cares when you start?  B. As soon as you get home from your shift at the local grocery store.  C. After you give yourself a 15-minute pep talk about how you need to get to work.  D. You won’t get it done. Between texts from your friends, trying to watch your favorite Netflix show, and playing with your dog, you just lost track of time! 

3. You’ve signed up to wash dogs at the Humane Society to help earn money for your senior class trip. You: 

A. Show up ten minutes late. You put off leaving your house until the last minute, then got stuck in unexpected traffic on the way to the shelter.  B. Have to call and cancel at the last minute. You forgot you’d already agreed to babysit your cousin and bake cupcakes for tomorrow’s bake sale.  C. Actually arrive fifteen minutes early with extra brushes and bandanas you picked up at the store. You’re passionate about animals, so you’re excited to help out! D. Show up on time, but only get three dogs washed. You couldn’t help it: you just kept getting distracted by how cute they were!

4. You have an hour of downtime, so you decide you’re going to watch an episode of The Great British Baking Show. You: 

A. Scroll through your social media feeds for twenty minutes before hitting play, which means you’re not able to finish the whole episode. Ugh! You really wanted to see who was sent home!  B. Watch fifteen minutes until you remember you’re supposed to pick up your sister from band practice before heading to your part-time job. No GBBO for you!  C. You finish one episode, then decide to watch another even though you’ve got SAT studying to do. It’s just more fun to watch people make scones.  D. Start the episode, but only catch bits and pieces of it because you’re reading Twitter, cleaning out your backpack, and eating a snack at the same time.

5. Your teacher asks you to stay after class because you’ve missed turning in two homework assignments in a row. When she asks you what’s wrong, you say: 

A. You planned to do your assignments during lunch, but you ran out of time. You decided it would be better to turn in nothing at all than submit unfinished work.  B. You really wanted to get the assignments done, but between your extracurriculars, family commitments, and your part-time job, your homework fell through the cracks.  C. You have a hard time psyching yourself to tackle the assignments. You just can’t seem to find the motivation to work on them once you get home.  D. You tried to do them, but you had a hard time focusing. By the time you realized you hadn’t gotten anything done, it was already time to turn them in. 

Like we said earlier, there are no right or wrong answers to this quiz (though your results will be better if you answered as honestly as possible). Here’s how your answers break down: 

• If your answers were mostly As, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is procrastination. 
• If your answers were mostly Bs, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is time management. 
• If your answers were mostly Cs, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is motivation. 
• If your answers were mostly Ds, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is getting distracted. 

Now that you’ve identified why you’re having a hard time getting your homework done, we can help you figure out how to fix it! Scroll down to find your core problem area to learn more about how you can start to address it. 

And one more thing: you’re really struggling with homework, it’s a good idea to read through every section below. You may find some additional tips that will help make homework less intimidating. 

How to Do Homework When You’re a Procrastinator  

Merriam Webster defines “procrastinate” as “to put off intentionally and habitually.” In other words, procrastination is when you choose to do something at the last minute on a regular basis. If you’ve ever found yourself pulling an all-nighter, trying to finish an assignment between periods, or sprinting to turn in a paper minutes before a deadline, you’ve experienced the effects of procrastination. 

If you’re a chronic procrastinator, you’re in good company. In fact, one study found that 70% to 95% of undergraduate students procrastinate when it comes to doing their homework. Unfortunately, procrastination can negatively impact your grades. Researchers have found that procrastination can lower your grade on an assignment by as much as five points ...which might not sound serious until you realize that can mean the difference between a B- and a C+. 

Procrastination can also negatively affect your health by increasing your stress levels , which can lead to other health conditions like insomnia, a weakened immune system, and even heart conditions. Getting a handle on procrastination can not only improve your grades, it can make you feel better, too! 

The big thing to understand about procrastination is that it’s not the result of laziness. Laziness is defined as being “disinclined to activity or exertion.” In other words, being lazy is all about doing nothing. But a s this Psychology Today article explains , procrastinators don’t put things off because they don’t want to work. Instead, procrastinators tend to postpone tasks they don’t want to do in favor of tasks that they perceive as either more important or more fun. Put another way, procrastinators want to do things...as long as it’s not their homework! 

3 Tips f or Conquering Procrastination 

Because putting off doing homework is a common problem, there are lots of good tactics for addressing procrastination. Keep reading for our three expert tips that will get your homework habits back on track in no time. 

#1: Create a Reward System

Like we mentioned earlier, procrastination happens when you prioritize other activities over getting your homework done. Many times, this happens because homework...well, just isn’t enjoyable. But you can add some fun back into the process by rewarding yourself for getting your work done. 

Here’s what we mean: let’s say you decide that every time you get your homework done before the day it’s due, you’ll give yourself a point. For every five points you earn, you’ll treat yourself to your favorite dessert: a chocolate cupcake! Now you have an extra (delicious!) incentive to motivate you to leave procrastination in the dust. 

If you’re not into cupcakes, don’t worry. Your reward can be anything that motivates you . Maybe it’s hanging out with your best friend or an extra ten minutes of video game time. As long as you’re choosing something that makes homework worth doing, you’ll be successful. 

#2: Have a Homework Accountability Partner 

If you’re having trouble getting yourself to start your homework ahead of time, it may be a good idea to call in reinforcements . Find a friend or classmate you can trust and explain to them that you’re trying to change your homework habits. Ask them if they’d be willing to text you to make sure you’re doing your homework and check in with you once a week to see if you’re meeting your anti-procrastination goals. 

Sharing your goals can make them feel more real, and an accountability partner can help hold you responsible for your decisions. For example, let’s say you’re tempted to put off your science lab write-up until the morning before it’s due. But you know that your accountability partner is going to text you about it tomorrow...and you don’t want to fess up that you haven’t started your assignment. A homework accountability partner can give you the extra support and incentive you need to keep your homework habits on track. 

#3: Create Your Own Due Dates 

If you’re a life-long procrastinator, you might find that changing the habit is harder than you expected. In that case, you might try using procrastination to your advantage! If you just can’t seem to stop doing your work at the last minute, try setting your own due dates for assignments that range from a day to a week before the assignment is actually due. 

Here’s what we mean. Let’s say you have a math worksheet that’s been assigned on Tuesday and is due on Friday. In your planner, you can write down the due date as Thursday instead. You may still put off your homework assignment until the last minute...but in this case, the “last minute” is a day before the assignment’s real due date . This little hack can trick your procrastination-addicted brain into planning ahead! 

If you feel like Kevin Hart in this meme, then our tips for doing homework when you're busy are for you. 

How to Do Homework When You’re too Busy

If you’re aiming to go to a top-tier college , you’re going to have a full plate. Because college admissions is getting more competitive, it’s important that you’re maintaining your grades , studying hard for your standardized tests , and participating in extracurriculars so your application stands out. A packed schedule can get even more hectic once you add family obligations or a part-time job to the mix. 

If you feel like you’re being pulled in a million directions at once, you’re not alone. Recent research has found that stress—and more severe stress-related conditions like anxiety and depression— are a major problem for high school students . In fact, one study from the American Psychological Association found that during the school year, students’ stress levels are higher than those of the adults around them. 

For students, homework is a major contributor to their overall stress levels . Many high schoolers have multiple hours of homework every night , and figuring out how to fit it into an already-packed schedule can seem impossible. 

3 Tips for Fitting Homework Into Your Busy Schedule

While it might feel like you have literally no time left in your schedule, there are still ways to make sure you’re able to get your homework done and meet your other commitments. Here are our expert homework tips for even the busiest of students. 

#1: Make a Prioritized To-Do List 

You probably already have a to-do list to keep yourself on track. The next step is to prioritize the items on your to-do list so you can see what items need your attention right away. 

Here’s how it works: at the beginning of each day, sit down and make a list of all the items you need to get done before you go to bed. This includes your homework, but it should also take into account any practices, chores, events, or job shifts you may have. Once you get everything listed out, it’s time to prioritize them using the labels A, B, and C. Here’s what those labels mean:

• A Tasks : tasks that have to get done—like showing up at work or turning in an assignment—get an A. 
• B Tasks : these are tasks that you would like to get done by the end of the day but aren’t as time sensitive. For example, studying for a test you have next week could be a B-level task. It’s still important, but it doesn’t have to be done right away.
• C Tasks: these are tasks that aren’t very important and/or have no real consequences if you don’t get them done immediately. For instance, if you’re hoping to clean out your closet but it’s not an assigned chore from your parents, you could label that to-do item with a C.

Prioritizing your to-do list helps you visualize which items need your immediate attention, and which items you can leave for later. A prioritized to-do list ensures that you’re spending your time efficiently and effectively, which helps you make room in your schedule for homework. So even though you might really want to start making decorations for Homecoming (a B task), you’ll know that finishing your reading log (an A task) is more important. 

#2: Use a Planner With Time Labels

Your planner is probably packed with notes, events, and assignments already. (And if you’re not using a planner, it’s time to start!) But planners can do more for you than just remind you when an assignment is due. If you’re using a planner with time labels, it can help you visualize how you need to spend your day.

A planner with time labels breaks your day down into chunks, and you assign tasks to each chunk of time. For example, you can make a note of your class schedule with assignments, block out time to study, and make sure you know when you need to be at practice. Once you know which tasks take priority, you can add them to any empty spaces in your day. 

Planning out how you spend your time not only helps you use it wisely, it can help you feel less overwhelmed, too . We’re big fans of planners that include a task list ( like this one ) or have room for notes ( like this one ). 

#3: Set Reminders on Your Phone 

If you need a little extra nudge to make sure you’re getting your homework done on time, it’s a good idea to set some reminders on your phone. You don’t need a fancy app, either. You can use your alarm app to have it go off at specific times throughout the day to remind you to do your homework. This works especially well if you have a set homework time scheduled. So if you’ve decided you’re doing homework at 6:00 pm, you can set an alarm to remind you to bust out your books and get to work. 

If you use your phone as your planner, you may have the option to add alerts, emails, or notifications to scheduled events . Many calendar apps, including the one that comes with your phone, have built-in reminders that you can customize to meet your needs. So if you block off time to do your homework from 4:30 to 6:00 pm, you can set a reminder that will pop up on your phone when it’s time to get started. 

This dog isn't judging your lack of motivation...but your teacher might. Keep reading for tips to help you motivate yourself to do your homework.

How to Do Homework When You’re Unmotivated 

At first glance, it may seem like procrastination and being unmotivated are the same thing. After all, both of these issues usually result in you putting off your homework until the very last minute. 

But there’s one key difference: many procrastinators are working, they’re just prioritizing work differently. They know they’re going to start their homework...they’re just going to do it later. 

Conversely, people who are unmotivated to do homework just can’t find the willpower to tackle their assignments. Procrastinators know they’ll at least attempt the homework at the last minute, whereas people who are unmotivated struggle with convincing themselves to do it at a ll. For procrastinators, the stress comes from the inevitable time crunch. For unmotivated people, the stress comes from trying to convince themselves to do something they don’t want to do in the first place. 

Here are some common reasons students are unmotivated in doing homework : 

• Assignments are too easy, too hard, or seemingly pointless 
• Students aren’t interested in (or passionate about) the subject matter
• Students are intimidated by the work and/or feels like they don’t understand the assignment 
• Homework isn’t fun, and students would rather spend their time on things that they enjoy 

To sum it up: people who lack motivation to do their homework are more likely to not do it at all, or to spend more time worrying about doing their homework than...well, actually doing it.

3 Tips for How to Get Motivated to Do Homework

The key to getting homework done when you’re unmotivated is to figure out what does motivate you, then apply those things to homework. It sounds tricky...but it’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it! Here are our three expert tips for motivating yourself to do your homework. 

#1: Use Incremental Incentives

When you’re not motivated, it’s important to give yourself small rewards to stay focused on finishing the task at hand. The trick is to keep the incentives small and to reward yourself often. For example, maybe you’re reading a good book in your free time. For every ten minutes you spend on your homework, you get to read five pages of your book. Like we mentioned earlier, make sure you’re choosing a reward that works for you! 

So why does this technique work? Using small rewards more often allows you to experience small wins for getting your work done. Every time you make it to one of your tiny reward points, you get to celebrate your success, which gives your brain a boost of dopamine . Dopamine helps you stay motivated and also creates a feeling of satisfaction when you complete your homework !  

#2: Form a Homework Group 

If you’re having trouble motivating yourself, it’s okay to turn to others for support. Creating a homework group can help with this. Bring together a group of your friends or classmates, and pick one time a week where you meet and work on homework together. You don’t have to be in the same class, or even taking the same subjects— the goal is to encourage one another to start (and finish!) your assignments. 

Another added benefit of a homework group is that you can help one another if you’re struggling to understand the material covered in your classes. This is especially helpful if your lack of motivation comes from being intimidated by your assignments. Asking your friends for help may feel less scary than talking to your teacher...and once you get a handle on the material, your homework may become less frightening, too. 

#3: Change Up Your Environment 

If you find that you’re totally unmotivated, it may help if you find a new place to do your homework. For example, if you’ve been struggling to get your homework done at home, try spending an extra hour in the library after school instead. The change of scenery can limit your distractions and give you the energy you need to get your work done. 

If you’re stuck doing homework at home, you can still use this tip. For instance, maybe you’ve always done your homework sitting on your bed. Try relocating somewhere else, like your kitchen table, for a few weeks. You may find that setting up a new “homework spot” in your house gives you a motivational lift and helps you get your work done. 

Social media can be a huge problem when it comes to doing homework. We have advice for helping you unplug and regain focus.

How to Do Homework When You’re Easily Distracted

We live in an always-on world, and there are tons of things clamoring for our attention. From friends and family to pop culture and social media, it seems like there’s always something (or someone!) distracting us from the things we need to do.

The 24/7 world we live in has affected our ability to focus on tasks for prolonged periods of time. Research has shown that over the past decade, an average person’s attention span has gone from 12 seconds to eight seconds . And when we do lose focus, i t takes people a long time to get back on task . One study found that it can take as long as 23 minutes to get back to work once we’ve been distracte d. No wonder it can take hours to get your homework done! 

3 Tips to Improve Your Focus

If you have a hard time focusing when you’re doing your homework, it’s a good idea to try and eliminate as many distractions as possible. Here are three expert tips for blocking out the noise so you can focus on getting your homework done. 

#1: Create a Distraction-Free Environment

Pick a place where you’ll do your homework every day, and make it as distraction-free as possible. Try to find a location where there won’t be tons of noise, and limit your access to screens while you’re doing your homework. Put together a focus-oriented playlist (or choose one on your favorite streaming service), and put your headphones on while you work. 

You may find that other people, like your friends and family, are your biggest distraction. If that’s the case, try setting up some homework boundaries. Let them know when you’ll be working on homework every day, and ask them if they’ll help you keep a quiet environment. They’ll be happy to lend a hand! 

#2: Limit Your Access to Technology 

We know, we know...this tip isn’t fun, but it does work. For homework that doesn’t require a computer, like handouts or worksheets, it’s best to put all your technology away . Turn off your television, put your phone and laptop in your backpack, and silence notifications on any wearable tech you may be sporting. If you listen to music while you work, that’s fine...but make sure you have a playlist set up so you’re not shuffling through songs once you get started on your homework. 

If your homework requires your laptop or tablet, it can be harder to limit your access to distractions. But it’s not impossible! T here are apps you can download that will block certain websites while you’re working so that you’re not tempted to scroll through Twitter or check your Facebook feed. Silence notifications and text messages on your computer, and don’t open your email account unless you absolutely have to. And if you don’t need access to the internet to complete your assignments, turn off your WiFi. Cutting out the online chatter is a great way to make sure you’re getting your homework done. 

#3: Set a Timer (the Pomodoro Technique)

Have you ever heard of the Pomodoro technique ? It’s a productivity hack that uses a timer to help you focus!

Here’s how it works: first, set a timer for 25 minutes. This is going to be your work time. During this 25 minutes, all you can do is work on whatever homework assignment you have in front of you. No email, no text messaging, no phone calls—just homework. When that timer goes off, you get to take a 5 minute break. Every time you go through one of these cycles, it’s called a “pomodoro.” For every four pomodoros you complete, you can take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes.

The pomodoro technique works through a combination of boundary setting and rewards. First, it gives you a finite amount of time to focus, so you know that you only have to work really hard for 25 minutes. Once you’ve done that, you’re rewarded with a short break where you can do whatever you want. Additionally, tracking how many pomodoros you complete can help you see how long you’re really working on your homework. (Once you start using our focus tips, you may find it doesn’t take as long as you thought!)

Two Bonus Tips for How to Do Homework Fast

Even if you’re doing everything right, there will be times when you just need to get your homework done as fast as possible. (Why do teachers always have projects due in the same week? The world may never know.)

The problem with speeding through homework is that it’s easy to make mistakes. While turning in an assignment is always better than not submitting anything at all, you want to make sure that you’re not compromising quality for speed. Simply put, the goal is to get your homework done quickly and still make a good grade on the assignment! 

Here are our two bonus tips for getting a decent grade on your homework assignments , even when you’re in a time crunch. 

#1: Do the Easy Parts First 

This is especially true if you’re working on a handout with multiple questions. Before you start working on the assignment, read through all the questions and problems. As you do, make a mark beside the questions you think are “easy” to answer . 

Once you’ve finished going through the whole assignment, you can answer these questions first. Getting the easy questions out of the way as quickly as possible lets you spend more time on the trickier portions of your homework, which will maximize your assignment grade. 

(Quick note: this is also a good strategy to use on timed assignments and tests, like the SAT and the ACT !) 

#2: Pay Attention in Class 

Homework gets a lot easier when you’re actively learning the material. Teachers aren’t giving you homework because they’re mean or trying to ruin your weekend... it’s because they want you to really understand the course material. Homework is designed to reinforce what you’re already learning in class so you’ll be ready to tackle harder concepts later.

When you pay attention in class, ask questions, and take good notes, you’re absorbing the information you’ll need to succeed on your homework assignments. (You’re stuck in class anyway, so you might as well make the most of it!) Not only will paying attention in class make your homework less confusing, it will also help it go much faster, too.

What’s Next?

If you’re looking to improve your productivity beyond homework, a good place to begin is with time management. After all, we only have so much time in a day...so it’s important to get the most out of it! To get you started, check out this list of the 12 best time management techniques that you can start using today.

You may have read this article because homework struggles have been affecting your GPA. Now that you’re on the path to homework success, it’s time to start being proactive about raising your grades. This article teaches you everything you need to know about raising your GPA so you can

Now you know how to get motivated to do homework...but what about your study habits? Studying is just as critical to getting good grades, and ultimately getting into a good college . We can teach you how to study bette r in high school. (We’ve also got tons of resources to help you study for your ACT and SAT exams , too!)

These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links, PrepScholar may receive a commission.

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Ashley Sufflé Robinson has a Ph.D. in 19th Century English Literature. As a content writer for PrepScholar, Ashley is passionate about giving college-bound students the in-depth information they need to get into the school of their dreams.

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Yes, There Is a Correct Order for Everything You Do in the Shower

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With more than 95 million views, the everything shower trend is taking over TikTok and inspiring people around the world to take time-intensive showers that tap into their self-care routines. The concept involves incorporating a full range of rituals before, during, and after a shower, including exfoliating , deep conditioning , shaving , and moisturizing .

How often should you take an everything shower?

Which treatments should you use before you shower, what's the first thing you should do in the shower, in what order should you exfoliate, shave, and wash your body, when should you wash your face in the shower, what products should be applied after the shower.

The "everything shower" is meant to feel like a moment of luxury in your day — but to really make the most of it (and preserve the health of your hair and skin), the order of operations matters. To provide some clarity on the correct order to do everything in the shower, we turned to the experts.

Meet the experts

• Jackie Seabrooke is a hairstylist in New York City.
• Jenny Liu , MD, is a board-certified dermatologist in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Lauren Kunijo is a hairstylist and co-owner of Kenna Kunijo salon in Charlotte, North Carolina.
• Sarah Potempa is a hairstylist and creator of Beachwaver .
• Lindsey Zubritsky is a board-certified dermatologist in Pittsburgh.
• Siobhan Benson is a hairstylist and owner of Cut Loose salon in Brooklyn.
• Michelle Henry , MD, is a board-certified dermatologist in New York City.

First off, everything showers shouldn't happen every day. Not only is the special routine time-consuming, but it also involves treatments — like hair masks and exfoliators — that aren't meant to be done daily. Try to reserve your everything shower for a specific day every week. Perhaps, aim for Sunday night when you're winding down from the weekend and preparing for the week ahead.

"It really is that day of the week that is reserved for your deep-clean ritual routine – like you do with your house – and you give a little more T.L.C. to yourself," says New York City-based, hairstylist Jackie Seabrooke . It's important to treat yourself.

While it's a nice thing to do every once in a while, like an at-home spa treatment , some professionals argue that the everything shower is more of an indulgence than a necessity. Minneapolis-based, board-certified dermatologist Jenny Liu compares the everything shower to 10-step skin-care routines that are not necessarily proven to be better for your skin compared to a simpler one.

The act of self-care starts before you even step into the shower, so it's important to focus on the pre-shower activities, too. Of course, you can customize your routine to make sure it works for you, but some people choose to dive into  dry brushing , a process that includes massaging your body with a dry, stiff-bristled brush to stimulate blood flow, before getting in the shower.

You might consider taking time to focus on your hair before your shower, too. Lauren Kunijo , hairstylist and co-owner of Kenna Kunijo salon in Charlotte, North Carolina, recommends brushing your hair while it's dry pre-shower to help loosen product buildup and debris before you shampoo.

Sarah Potempa , hairstylist and creator of Beachwaver , says she rubs a few drops of argan oil into her scalp before getting into the shower. When left on for up to 10 minutes, she says it acts as a soothing treatment to prevent dryness on the scalp and restore moisture throughout her hair. For the same reason, Seabrooke likes to apply a deep conditioning mask pre-shower. ( Briogeo Don't Despair, Repair! mask is a multi-time Allure Readers' Choice Award winner.)

As you're getting ready to hop in the shower, it's important to pay attention to the temperature of the water. Using water that is too hot can cause dryness and irritation on your scalp and skin, says Lindsey Zubritsky , a board-certified dermatologist in Pittsburgh, adding that it’s always best to set your shower temperature to lukewarm.

"It's important that you don't wash your face or the skin on your body before completing your hair-wash routine," says Dr. Zubritsky. Runoff from shampoo and conditioner might end up on your face and body and that can lead to clogged pores and breakouts , she says.

With that in mind, first up is your hair-wash routine — which will, of course, depend on your hair type. Siobhan Benson , hairstylist and owner of Cut Loose salon in Brooklyn, says most people can benefit from a hydrating shampoo (we like Crown Affair Ritual Shampoo ), but adds that her own shampooing cadence depends upon the season. She normally shampoos her hair daily in the summer, but in the winter, she often washes only her bangs if she doesn’t have time to do a full blow-dry. If your scalp is particularly oily, you might consider using an exfoliating scalp scrub that doubles as a shampoo, like Christophe Robin Cleansing Purifying Scrub .

After the shampoo process, Benson recommends applying a conditioner or hair treatment (if you didn't already use one pre-shower) and using a loose-fitting claw clip to hold your hair up while you exfoliate and shave.

There are definitely right and wrong steps when caring for your skin in the shower, says Dr. Zubritsky. She recommends exfoliating and shaving first but points out that exfoliation should happen only once or twice a week.

Over-exfoliation can do more harm than good by damaging the skin barrier, says Dr. Zubritsky, emphasizing that it's extra important to exercise caution if you have dry or sensitive skin. She prefers exfoliators that incorporate ingredients like glycolic , salicylic , or lactic acid (which gently dissolve away dead skin cells) as they're as less aggressive than physical scrubs that rely on abrasion alone. Make sure your skin is damp, then apply the exfoliator, and gently rub in a circular motion for up to 30 seconds before thoroughly rinsing it off, says Dr. Zubritsky.

If you plan on shaving, it's particularly beneficial to start your routine with exfoliation since it removes dead skin cells to make way for the smoothest shave possible. This also helps reduce the risk of razor burn or bumps. "It's best to shave after the skin is damp and soft to reduce friction on the skin," says Dr. Zubritsky. You typically have to be in the shower for several minutes to achieve this, so it’s important to avoid immediately diving into shaving even if you don't exfoliate first.

Now, it's time to wash your body. You can go about this like you normally would in your typical shower routine, but maybe take a few minutes to make sure you get extra clean from tip to toes. And, as a note, using your hands or a washcloth is more hygienic than a loofah .

When it comes to washing your face during an everything shower, don’t be afraid to dive into the double cleanse . Dr. Zubritsky is personally a fan of the process, which involves washing your face twice: first with an oil-based cleanser and then with a water-based one. It's a step that you can incorporate in or out of the shower. "If you choose to double cleanse in the shower, be sure to do it as the last step in your routine," she said, citing the aforementioned pore-clogging and acne-causing reasons.

The aftercare is just as important as the shower itself. First, make sure your skin isn't completely dry, says Dr. Zubritsky, because applying moisturizer to damp skin allows it to effectively sink in and seal in hydration.

This step is particularly crucial following an everything shower. “Moisturizing after a long shower is important because it helps to maintain the skin's moisture balance, keeping it softer and more supple,” says New York City-based, board-certified dermatologist Michelle Henry . Long showers or baths can strip the skin of its natural oils, leaving it dry and prone to irritation, she adds. By moisturizing immediately after a long shower (especially with a formula that's rich in hydrators, like shea butter or hyaluronic acid ), you are replenishing these lost oils, protecting your skin from the environment, and helping to prevent conditions like dermatitis or eczema. 

Wrap it up by doing the same for your face with a moisturizer or oil, making sure not to skip coating the thin skin on your lips, which is particularly prone to dryness, with a conditioner like Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask . As the finishing touch for your everything shower, you may also wish to incorporate massage by way of a gua sha or an ice roller . While doing so, you might like to wrap your hair in a microfiber towel (like those by Aquis ), which speeds up the drying process.

All that said, the everything shower isn’t necessary, but it is luxurious — and a whole lot of fun. Playing around a little is part of the process and, eventually, you’ll find a routine that's perfect for you, your hair, and your skin.

Read about our favorite shower staples:

• Dove Body Wash Just Got Its First Makeover in 17 Years  
• The 23 Best Body Scrubs & Exfoliators for the Glowing Skin of Your Dreams
• The 25 Best Body Washes for Head-to-Toe Moisture

Now watch a yoga instructor's entire daily routine:

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Strategies to make homework go more smoothly.

Routines and incentive systems to help kids succeed

Writer: Peg Dawson, EdD, NCSP

Clinical Experts: Peg Dawson, EdD, NCSP , Karol Espejo, LCSW

Here is the best guide to helping kids do homework successfully that we’ve seen, published by the National Association of School Psychologists on their website, NASPonline.org . Our thanks to NASP for sharing it with us.

There are two key strategies parents can draw on to reduce homework hassles. The first is to establish clear routines around homework, including when and where homework gets done and setting up daily schedules for homework. The second is to build in rewards or incentives to use with children for whom “good grades” is not a sufficient reward for doing homework.

Homework Routines

Tasks are easiest to accomplish when tied to specific routines. By establishing daily routines for homework completion, you will not only make homework go more smoothly, but you will also be fostering a sense of order your child can apply to later life, including college and work.

Step 1. Find a location in the house where homework will be done. The right location will depend on your child and the culture of your family. Some children do best at a desk in their bedroom. It is a quiet location, away from the hubbub of family noise. Other children become too distracted by the things they keep in their bedroom and do better at a place removed from those distractions, like the dining room table. Some children need to work by themselves. Others need to have parents nearby to help keep them on task and to answer questions when problems arise. Ask your child where the best place is to work. Both you and your child need to discuss pros and cons of different settings to arrive at a mutually agreed upon location.

Step 2. Set up a homework center. Once you and your child have identified a location, fix it up as a home office/homework center. Make sure there is a clear workspace large enough to set out all the materials necessary for completing assignments. Outfit the homework center with the kinds of supplies your child is most likely to need, such as pencils, pens, colored markers, rulers, scissors, a dictionary and thesaurus, graph paper, construction paper, glue and cellophane tape, lined paper, a calculator, spell checker, and, depending on the age and needs of your child, a computer or laptop. If the homework center is a place that will be used for other things (such as the dining room table), then your child can keep the supplies in a portable crate or bin. If possible, the homework center should include a bulletin board that can hold a monthly calendar on which your child can keep track of longterm assignments. Allowing children some leeway in decorating the homework center can help them feel at home there, but you should be careful that it does not become too cluttered with distracting materials.

Step 3. Establish a homework time. Your child should get in the habit of doing homework at the same time every day. The time may vary depending on the individual child. Some children need a break right after school to get some exercise and have a snack. Others need to start homework while they are still in a school mode (i.e., right after school when there is still some momentum left from getting through the day). In general, it may be best to get homework done either before dinner or as early in the evening as the child can tolerate. The later it gets, the more tired the child becomes and the more slowly the homework gets done.

Step 4. Establish a daily homework schedule. In general, at least into middle school, the homework session should begin with your sitting down with your child and drawing up a homework schedule. You should review all the assignments and make sure your child understands them and has all the necessary materials. Ask your child to estimate how long it will take to complete each assignment. Then ask when each assignment will get started. If your child needs help with any assignment , then this should be determined at the beginning so that the start times can take into account parent availability. A Daily Homework Planner is included at the end of this handout and contains a place for identifying when breaks may be taken and what rewards may be earned.

Incentive Systems

Many children who are not motivated by the enjoyment of doing homework are motivated by the high grade they hope to earn as a result of doing a quality job. Thus, the grade is an incentive, motivating the child to do homework with care and in a timely manner. For children who are not motivated by grades, parents will need to look for other rewards to help them get through their nightly chores. Incentive systems fall into two categories: simple and elaborate.

Simple incentive systems. The simplest incentive system is reminding the child of a fun activity to do when homework is done. It may be a favorite television show, a chance to spend some time with a video or computer game, talking on the telephone or instant messaging, or playing a game with a parent. This system of withholding fun things until the drudgery is over is sometimes called Grandma’s Law because grandmothers often use it quite effectively (“First take out the trash, then you can have chocolate chip cookies.”). Having something to look forward to can be a powerful incentive to get the hard work done. When parents remind children of this as they sit down at their desks they may be able to spark the engine that drives the child to stick with the work until it is done.

Elaborate incentive systems. These involve more planning and more work on the part of parents but in some cases are necessary to address more significant homework problems. More complex incentives systems might include a structure for earning points that could be used to “purchase” privileges or rewards or a system that provides greater reward for accomplishing more difficult homework tasks. These systems work best when parents and children together develop them. Giving children input gives them a sense of control and ownership, making the system more likely to succeed. We have found that children are generally realistic in setting goals and deciding on rewards and penalties when they are involved in the decision-making process.

Building in breaks. These are good for the child who cannot quite make it to the end without a small reward en route. When creating the daily homework schedule, it may be useful with these children to identify when they will take their breaks. Some children prefer to take breaks at specific time intervals (every 15 minutes), while others do better when the breaks occur after they finish an activity. If you use this approach, you should discuss with your child how long the breaks will last and what will be done during the breaks (get a snack, call a friend, play one level on a video game). The Daily Homework Planner includes sections where breaks and end-of-homework rewards can be identified.

Building in choice. This can be an effective strategy for parents to use with children who resist homework. Choice can be incorporated into both the order in which the child agrees to complete assignments and the schedule they will follow to get the work done. Building in choice not only helps motivate children but can also reduce power struggles between parents and children.

Developing Incentive Systems

Step 1. Describe the problem behaviors. Parents and children decide which behaviors are causing problems at homework time. For some children putting homework off to the last minute is the problem; for others, it is forgetting materials or neglecting to write down assignments. Still others rush through their work and make careless mistakes, while others dawdle over assignments, taking hours to complete what should take only a few minutes. It is important to be as specific as possible when describing the problem behaviors. The problem behavior should be described as behaviors that can be seen or heard; for instance, complains about h omework or rushes through homework, making many mistakes are better descriptors than has a bad attitude or is lazy.

Step 2. Set a goal. Usually the goal relates directly to the problem behavior. For instance, if not writing down assignments is the problem, the goal might be: “Joe will write down his assignments in his assignment book for every class.”

Step 3. Decide on possible rewards and penalties. Homework incentive systems work best when children have a menu of rewards to choose from, since no single reward will be attractive for long. We recommend a point system in which points can be earned for the goal behaviors and traded in for the reward the child wants to earn. The bigger the reward, the more points the child will need to earn it. The menu should include both larger, more expensive rewards that may take a week or a month to earn and smaller, inexpensive rewards that can be earned daily. It may also be necessary to build penalties into the system. This is usually the loss of a privilege (such as the chance to watch a favorite TV show or the chance to talk on the telephone to a friend).

Once the system is up and running, and if you find your child is earning more penalties than rewards, then the program needs to be revised so that your child can be more successful. Usually when this kind of system fails, we think of it as a design failure rather than the failure of the child to respond to rewards. It may be a good idea if you are having difficulty designing a system that works to consult a specialist, such as a school psychologist or counselor, for assistance.

Step 4. Write a homework contract. The contract should say exactly what the child agrees to do and exactly what the parents’ roles and responsibilities will be. When the contract is in place, it should reduce some of the tension parents and kids often experience around homework. For instance, if part of the contract is that the child will earn a point for not complaining about homework, then if the child does complain, this should not be cause for a battle between parent and child: the child simply does not earn that point. Parents should also be sure to praise their children for following the contract. It will be important for parents to agree to a contract they can live with; that is, avoiding penalties they are either unable or unwilling to impose (e.g., if both parents work and are not at home, they cannot monitor whether a child is beginning homework right after school, so an alternative contract may need to be written).

We have found that it is a rare incentive system that works the first time. Parents should expect to try it out and redesign it to work the kinks out. Eventually, once the child is used to doing the behaviors specified in the contract, the contract can be rewritten to work on another problem behavior. Your child over time may be willing to drop the use of an incentive system altogether. This is often a long-term goal, however, and you should be ready to write a new contract if your child slips back to bad habits once a system is dropped.

Click here to download the homework planner and incentive sheet .

Frequently Asked Questions

To help homework go more smoothly, e stablish a routine that includes a time and place where it will be done, a planner that lists each assignment, scheduled breaks when some of the work is done, and a reward system for kids who are not motivated by good grades alone.  

Set a good homework routine following these steps: Find a location in the house where homework will be done. Set up a homework center stocked with needed materials . Establish a homework time. Use a daily homework planner so that your child has everything in writing.  

One tool that can make homework go more smoothly i s a Daily Homework Planner , which lists each assignment, how long it should take to complete, and what rewards may be earned for completing each assignment.    

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Morning or night? The best time to shower is...

It's time to come clean: Are you a morning or a night person when it comes to showering?

The time of day you shower may come down to personal habits and scheduling, but there is some science behind whether there are benefits, and drawbacks, to whether you soap up before work or bed.

Morning showers can have a meditative effect on people by allowing them to relax and reboot. That mental state can encourage creativity, according to Harvard psychology lecturer Shelley Carson.

“If you were to come up with a problem that you wanted to solve creatively, and you were working and working on it and couldn’t come up with a solution, then you could put it on the back burner of your mind and allow it to stew there while unconscious processes mull it over,” Carson told The Greatist.

Skin & Beauty Dermatologist explains why taking a shower is better than a bath

Morning showers also are good for people who tend to cut themselves while shaving, since bodies get a surge of “clot-forming platelets” in the morning, which means bleeding stops faster.

Evening showers have their advantages, helping keep the skin clean, washing away the dirt, oil and allergens that build up over the day and can rub off on your bedsheets.

Evening showers are especially helpful during pollen season. Because hair gels act like pollen magnets, allergists recommend showering and washing your hair at night, to rinse off the pollen that collects on your skin and hair during the day.

And, an evening shower is especially relaxing for people who have a hard time unwinding from their day or getting to sleep.

“That rapid cooling after you get out of the shower or out of the bath tends to be a natural sleep inducer,” Christopher Winter, a fellow at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and medical director at the sleep center at Martha Jefferson Hospital, told The Greatist. “So it’s a nice way to fool your body into thinking it’s time to go to bed.”

So like anything else in life, the best time to take a shower? It really just depends.

Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?

A conversation with a Wheelock researcher, a BU student, and a fourth-grade teacher

“Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives,” says Wheelock’s Janine Bempechat. “It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.” Photo by iStock/Glenn Cook Photography

Do your homework.

If only it were that simple.

Educators have debated the merits of homework since the late 19th century. In recent years, amid concerns of some parents and teachers that children are being stressed out by too much homework, things have only gotten more fraught.

“Homework is complicated,” says developmental psychologist Janine Bempechat, a Wheelock College of Education & Human Development clinical professor. The author of the essay “ The Case for (Quality) Homework—Why It Improves Learning and How Parents Can Help ” in the winter 2019 issue of Education Next , Bempechat has studied how the debate about homework is influencing teacher preparation, parent and student beliefs about learning, and school policies.

She worries especially about socioeconomically disadvantaged students from low-performing schools who, according to research by Bempechat and others, get little or no homework.

BU Today  sat down with Bempechat and Erin Bruce (Wheelock’17,’18), a new fourth-grade teacher at a suburban Boston school, and future teacher freshman Emma Ardizzone (Wheelock) to talk about what quality homework looks like, how it can help children learn, and how schools can equip teachers to design it, evaluate it, and facilitate parents’ role in it.

BU Today: Parents and educators who are against homework in elementary school say there is no research definitively linking it to academic performance for kids in the early grades. You’ve said that they’re missing the point.

Bempechat : I think teachers assign homework in elementary school as a way to help kids develop skills they’ll need when they’re older—to begin to instill a sense of responsibility and to learn planning and organizational skills. That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success. If we greatly reduce or eliminate homework in elementary school, we deprive kids and parents of opportunities to instill these important learning habits and skills.

We do know that beginning in late middle school, and continuing through high school, there is a strong and positive correlation between homework completion and academic success.

That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success.

You talk about the importance of quality homework. What is that?

Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives. It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.

What are your concerns about homework and low-income children?

The argument that some people make—that homework “punishes the poor” because lower-income parents may not be as well-equipped as affluent parents to help their children with homework—is very troubling to me. There are no parents who don’t care about their children’s learning. Parents don’t actually have to help with homework completion in order for kids to do well. They can help in other ways—by helping children organize a study space, providing snacks, being there as a support, helping children work in groups with siblings or friends.

Isn’t the discussion about getting rid of homework happening mostly in affluent communities?

Yes, and the stories we hear of kids being stressed out from too much homework—four or five hours of homework a night—are real. That’s problematic for physical and mental health and overall well-being. But the research shows that higher-income students get a lot more homework than lower-income kids.

Teachers may not have as high expectations for lower-income children. Schools should bear responsibility for providing supports for kids to be able to get their homework done—after-school clubs, community support, peer group support. It does kids a disservice when our expectations are lower for them.

The conversation around homework is to some extent a social class and social justice issue. If we eliminate homework for all children because affluent children have too much, we’re really doing a disservice to low-income children. They need the challenge, and every student can rise to the challenge with enough supports in place.

What did you learn by studying how education schools are preparing future teachers to handle homework?

My colleague, Margarita Jimenez-Silva, at the University of California, Davis, School of Education, and I interviewed faculty members at education schools, as well as supervising teachers, to find out how students are being prepared. And it seemed that they weren’t. There didn’t seem to be any readings on the research, or conversations on what high-quality homework is and how to design it.

Erin, what kind of training did you get in handling homework?

Bruce : I had phenomenal professors at Wheelock, but homework just didn’t come up. I did lots of student teaching. I’ve been in classrooms where the teachers didn’t assign any homework, and I’ve been in rooms where they assigned hours of homework a night. But I never even considered homework as something that was my decision. I just thought it was something I’d pull out of a book and it’d be done.

I started giving homework on the first night of school this year. My first assignment was to go home and draw a picture of the room where you do your homework. I want to know if it’s at a table and if there are chairs around it and if mom’s cooking dinner while you’re doing homework.

The second night I asked them to talk to a grown-up about how are you going to be able to get your homework done during the week. The kids really enjoyed it. There’s a running joke that I’m teaching life skills.

Friday nights, I read all my kids’ responses to me on their homework from the week and it’s wonderful. They pour their hearts out. It’s like we’re having a conversation on my couch Friday night.

It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.

Bempechat : I can’t imagine that most new teachers would have the intuition Erin had in designing homework the way she did.

Ardizzone : Conversations with kids about homework, feeling you’re being listened to—that’s such a big part of wanting to do homework….I grew up in Westchester County. It was a pretty demanding school district. My junior year English teacher—I loved her—she would give us feedback, have meetings with all of us. She’d say, “If you have any questions, if you have anything you want to talk about, you can talk to me, here are my office hours.” It felt like she actually cared.

Bempechat : It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.

Ardizzone : But can’t it lead to parents being overbearing and too involved in their children’s lives as students?

Bempechat : There’s good help and there’s bad help. The bad help is what you’re describing—when parents hover inappropriately, when they micromanage, when they see their children confused and struggling and tell them what to do.

Good help is when parents recognize there’s a struggle going on and instead ask informative questions: “Where do you think you went wrong?” They give hints, or pointers, rather than saying, “You missed this,” or “You didn’t read that.”

Bruce : I hope something comes of this. I hope BU or Wheelock can think of some way to make this a more pressing issue. As a first-year teacher, it was not something I even thought about on the first day of school—until a kid raised his hand and said, “Do we have homework?” It would have been wonderful if I’d had a plan from day one.

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Senior Contributing Editor

Sara Rimer A journalist for more than three decades, Sara Rimer worked at the Miami Herald , Washington Post and, for 26 years, the New York Times , where she was the New England bureau chief, and a national reporter covering education, aging, immigration, and other social justice issues. Her stories on the death penalty’s inequities were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and cited in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision outlawing the execution of people with intellectual disabilities. Her journalism honors include Columbia University’s Meyer Berger award for in-depth human interest reporting. She holds a BA degree in American Studies from the University of Michigan. Profile

She can be reached at [email protected] .

Comments & Discussion

Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (EST) and can only accept comments written in English. Statistics or facts must include a citation or a link to the citation.

There are 81 comments on Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?

Insightful! The values about homework in elementary schools are well aligned with my intuition as a parent.

when i finish my work i do my homework and i sometimes forget what to do because i did not get enough sleep

same omg it does not help me it is stressful and if I have it in more than one class I hate it.

Same I think my parent wants to help me but, she doesn’t care if I get bad grades so I just try my best and my grades are great.

I think that last question about Good help from parents is not know to all parents, we do as our parents did or how we best think it can be done, so maybe coaching parents or giving them resources on how to help with homework would be very beneficial for the parent on how to help and for the teacher to have consistency and improve homework results, and of course for the child. I do see how homework helps reaffirm the knowledge obtained in the classroom, I also have the ability to see progress and it is a time I share with my kids

The answer to the headline question is a no-brainer – a more pressing problem is why there is a difference in how students from different cultures succeed. Perfect example is the student population at BU – why is there a majority population of Asian students and only about 3% black students at BU? In fact at some universities there are law suits by Asians to stop discrimination and quotas against admitting Asian students because the real truth is that as a group they are demonstrating better qualifications for admittance, while at the same time there are quotas and reduced requirements for black students to boost their portion of the student population because as a group they do more poorly in meeting admissions standards – and it is not about the Benjamins. The real problem is that in our PC society no one has the gazuntas to explore this issue as it may reveal that all people are not created equal after all. Or is it just environmental cultural differences??????

I get you have a concern about the issue but that is not even what the point of this article is about. If you have an issue please take this to the site we have and only post your opinion about the actual topic

This is not at all what the article is talking about.

This literally has nothing to do with the article brought up. You should really take your opinions somewhere else before you speak about something that doesn’t make sense.

we have the same name

so they have the same name what of it?

lol you tell her

totally agree

What does that have to do with homework, that is not what the article talks about AT ALL.

Yes, I think homework plays an important role in the development of student life. Through homework, students have to face challenges on a daily basis and they try to solve them quickly.I am an intense online tutor at 24x7homeworkhelp and I give homework to my students at that level in which they handle it easily.

More than two-thirds of students said they used alcohol and drugs, primarily marijuana, to cope with stress.

You know what’s funny? I got this assignment to write an argument for homework about homework and this article was really helpful and understandable, and I also agree with this article’s point of view.

I also got the same task as you! I was looking for some good resources and I found this! I really found this article useful and easy to understand, just like you! ^^

i think that homework is the best thing that a child can have on the school because it help them with their thinking and memory.

I am a child myself and i think homework is a terrific pass time because i can’t play video games during the week. It also helps me set goals.

Homework is not harmful ,but it will if there is too much

I feel like, from a minors point of view that we shouldn’t get homework. Not only is the homework stressful, but it takes us away from relaxing and being social. For example, me and my friends was supposed to hang at the mall last week but we had to postpone it since we all had some sort of work to do. Our minds shouldn’t be focused on finishing an assignment that in realty, doesn’t matter. I completely understand that we should have homework. I have to write a paper on the unimportance of homework so thanks.

homework isn’t that bad

Are you a student? if not then i don’t really think you know how much and how severe todays homework really is

i am a student and i do not enjoy homework because i practice my sport 4 out of the five days we have school for 4 hours and that’s not even counting the commute time or the fact i still have to shower and eat dinner when i get home. its draining!

i totally agree with you. these people are such boomers

why just why

they do make a really good point, i think that there should be a limit though. hours and hours of homework can be really stressful, and the extra work isn’t making a difference to our learning, but i do believe homework should be optional and extra credit. that would make it for students to not have the leaning stress of a assignment and if you have a low grade you you can catch up.

Studies show that homework improves student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college. Research published in the High School Journal indicates that students who spent between 31 and 90 minutes each day on homework “scored about 40 points higher on the SAT-Mathematics subtest than their peers, who reported spending no time on homework each day, on average.” On both standardized tests and grades, students in classes that were assigned homework outperformed 69% of students who didn’t have homework. A majority of studies on homework’s impact – 64% in one meta-study and 72% in another – showed that take home assignments were effective at improving academic achievement. Research by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) concluded that increased homework led to better GPAs and higher probability of college attendance for high school boys. In fact, boys who attended college did more than three hours of additional homework per week in high school.

So how are your measuring student achievement? That’s the real question. The argument that doing homework is simply a tool for teaching responsibility isn’t enough for me. We can teach responsibility in a number of ways. Also the poor argument that parents don’t need to help with homework, and that students can do it on their own, is wishful thinking at best. It completely ignores neurodiverse students. Students in poverty aren’t magically going to find a space to do homework, a friend’s or siblings to help them do it, and snacks to eat. I feel like the author of this piece has never set foot in a classroom of students.

THIS. This article is pathetic coming from a university. So intellectually dishonest, refusing to address the havoc of capitalism and poverty plays on academic success in life. How can they in one sentence use poor kids in an argument and never once address that poor children have access to damn near 0 of the resources affluent kids have? Draw me a picture and let’s talk about feelings lmao what a joke is that gonna put food in their belly so they can have the calories to burn in order to use their brain to study? What about quiet their 7 other siblings that they share a single bedroom with for hours? Is it gonna force the single mom to magically be at home and at work at the same time to cook food while you study and be there to throw an encouraging word?

Also the “parents don’t need to be a parent and be able to guide their kid at all academically they just need to exist in the next room” is wild. Its one thing if a parent straight up is not equipped but to say kids can just figured it out is…. wow coming from an educator What’s next the teacher doesn’t need to teach cause the kid can just follow the packet and figure it out?

Well then get a tutor right? Oh wait you are poor only affluent kids can afford a tutor for their hours of homework a day were they on average have none of the worries a poor child does. Does this address that poor children are more likely to also suffer abuse and mental illness? Like mentioned what about kids that can’t learn or comprehend the forced standardized way? Just let em fail? These children regularly are not in “special education”(some of those are a joke in their own and full of neglect and abuse) programs cause most aren’t even acknowledged as having disabilities or disorders.

But yes all and all those pesky poor kids just aren’t being worked hard enough lol pretty sure poor children’s existence just in childhood is more work, stress, and responsibility alone than an affluent child’s entire life cycle. Love they never once talked about the quality of education in the classroom being so bad between the poor and affluent it can qualify as segregation, just basically blamed poor people for being lazy, good job capitalism for failing us once again!

why the hell?

you should feel bad for saying this, this article can be helpful for people who has to write a essay about it

This is more of a political rant than it is about homework

I know a teacher who has told his students their homework is to find something they are interested in, pursue it and then come share what they learn. The student responses are quite compelling. One girl taught herself German so she could talk to her grandfather. One boy did a research project on Nelson Mandela because the teacher had mentioned him in class. Another boy, a both on the autism spectrum, fixed his family’s computer. The list goes on. This is fourth grade. I think students are highly motivated to learn, when we step aside and encourage them.

The whole point of homework is to give the students a chance to use the material that they have been presented with in class. If they never have the opportunity to use that information, and discover that it is actually useful, it will be in one ear and out the other. As a science teacher, it is critical that the students are challenged to use the material they have been presented with, which gives them the opportunity to actually think about it rather than regurgitate “facts”. Well designed homework forces the student to think conceptually, as opposed to regurgitation, which is never a pretty sight

Wonderful discussion. and yes, homework helps in learning and building skills in students.

not true it just causes kids to stress

Homework can be both beneficial and unuseful, if you will. There are students who are gifted in all subjects in school and ones with disabilities. Why should the students who are gifted get the lucky break, whereas the people who have disabilities suffer? The people who were born with this “gift” go through school with ease whereas people with disabilities struggle with the work given to them. I speak from experience because I am one of those students: the ones with disabilities. Homework doesn’t benefit “us”, it only tears us down and put us in an abyss of confusion and stress and hopelessness because we can’t learn as fast as others. Or we can’t handle the amount of work given whereas the gifted students go through it with ease. It just brings us down and makes us feel lost; because no mater what, it feels like we are destined to fail. It feels like we weren’t “cut out” for success.

homework does help

here is the thing though, if a child is shoved in the face with a whole ton of homework that isn’t really even considered homework it is assignments, it’s not helpful. the teacher should make homework more of a fun learning experience rather than something that is dreaded

This article was wonderful, I am going to ask my teachers about extra, or at all giving homework.

I agree. Especially when you have homework before an exam. Which is distasteful as you’ll need that time to study. It doesn’t make any sense, nor does us doing homework really matters as It’s just facts thrown at us.

Homework is too severe and is just too much for students, schools need to decrease the amount of homework. When teachers assign homework they forget that the students have other classes that give them the same amount of homework each day. Students need to work on social skills and life skills.

I disagree.

Beyond achievement, proponents of homework argue that it can have many other beneficial effects. They claim it can help students develop good study habits so they are ready to grow as their cognitive capacities mature. It can help students recognize that learning can occur at home as well as at school. Homework can foster independent learning and responsible character traits. And it can give parents an opportunity to see what’s going on at school and let them express positive attitudes toward achievement.

Homework is helpful because homework helps us by teaching us how to learn a specific topic.

As a student myself, I can say that I have almost never gotten the full 9 hours of recommended sleep time, because of homework. (Now I’m writing an essay on it in the middle of the night D=)

I am a 10 year old kid doing a report about “Is homework good or bad” for homework before i was going to do homework is bad but the sources from this site changed my mind!

Homeowkr is god for stusenrs

I agree with hunter because homework can be so stressful especially with this whole covid thing no one has time for homework and every one just wants to get back to there normal lives it is especially stressful when you go on a 2 week vaca 3 weeks into the new school year and and then less then a week after you come back from the vaca you are out for over a month because of covid and you have no way to get the assignment done and turned in

As great as homework is said to be in the is article, I feel like the viewpoint of the students was left out. Every where I go on the internet researching about this topic it almost always has interviews from teachers, professors, and the like. However isn’t that a little biased? Of course teachers are going to be for homework, they’re not the ones that have to stay up past midnight completing the homework from not just one class, but all of them. I just feel like this site is one-sided and you should include what the students of today think of spending four hours every night completing 6-8 classes worth of work.

Are we talking about homework or practice? Those are two very different things and can result in different outcomes.

Homework is a graded assignment. I do not know of research showing the benefits of graded assignments going home.

Practice; however, can be extremely beneficial, especially if there is some sort of feedback (not a grade but feedback). That feedback can come from the teacher, another student or even an automated grading program.

As a former band director, I assigned daily practice. I never once thought it would be appropriate for me to require the students to turn in a recording of their practice for me to grade. Instead, I had in-class assignments/assessments that were graded and directly related to the practice assigned.

I would really like to read articles on “homework” that truly distinguish between the two.

oof i feel bad good luck!

thank you guys for the artical because I have to finish an assingment. yes i did cite it but just thanks

thx for the article guys.

Homework is good

I think homework is helpful AND harmful. Sometimes u can’t get sleep bc of homework but it helps u practice for school too so idk.

I agree with this Article. And does anyone know when this was published. I would like to know.

It was published FEb 19, 2019.

Studies have shown that homework improved student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college.

i think homework can help kids but at the same time not help kids

This article is so out of touch with majority of homes it would be laughable if it wasn’t so incredibly sad.

There is no value to homework all it does is add stress to already stressed homes. Parents or adults magically having the time or energy to shepherd kids through homework is dome sort of 1950’s fantasy.

What lala land do these teachers live in?

Homework gives noting to the kid

Homework is Bad

homework is bad.

why do kids even have homework?

Comments are closed.

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Articles & Advice > Student Life > Blog

Top Tips for Juggling Schoolwork, Exercise, and Activities

Balancing homework, extracurriculars, and a social calendar can leave little time for fitness. Check out these tips from real students on how to make it work!

by CollegeXpress

Last Updated: Mar 16, 2023

Originally Posted: Dec 3, 2014

As we sat here at the CollegeXpress headquarters, perfectly sedentary, munching on leftover Halloween candy (yes, still!), and wondering why we can barely make it up a flight of stairs, we got to thinking about health and fitness. Specifically, we wanted to know what our users think about diet and exercise and how they maintain a healthy lifestyle along with all the other stuff they have on their plates. That's why we teamed up with O2MAX Fitness to survey our readers and get some answers.

Seven thousand students turned out for the survey—thanks again, all 6,977 of you!—and we learned a ton from their responses. We got so much great information, so we’re sharing some of our favorite responses to the question “ How do you balance your fitness and other activities with your schoolwork?”  If you’re struggling with your schedule, first, know you’re not alone, and second, keep reading for some great tips and inspiration from high school and college students just like you. 

On working out and sports

• “Being involved in sports actually helps me a lot because after practice, I know I have less time to procrastinate and have to get started on my school work.”
• “Sports have always been a part of my life. It's as routine as brushing my teeth. Including fitness in my routine is not an option; it's a necessity.”
• “I find that physical activity actually helps me focus. After coming home from practice or a workout, I know I need to focus on school instead of filling my free time with things that will suck me in and distract me.”
• “I use my sports activity to clear my head and to focus on something physical while still stimulating my mind. Right when I get home from my practice I hit the books.”
• “I do my workouts just before I shower each night so I am more tired before I go to bed.”
• “I make at least a 30 minute block of time to workout because I know it's great for my body. Also, after I work out I focus on school a lot better.”
• “I try to eat healthy, and I walk around my campus between classes. I take walks outside whenever I have time.”
• “I bike to school and home incorporating fitness into my everyday life.”
• “I try to find ways to multitask, such as running from building to building on campus rather than slowly walking.”
• “I either do it right when I wake up because I like to get it out of the way, but sometimes when I had a late night studying or if I have early morning classes, I'll do it right when I get back to my room. However, if some days I feel way too tired I know my body needs a break and I'll take a nice stretching or yoga day or a rest day.”
• “If I have minutes at the end of the day then I run for 20 minutes; it just depends on how much time I have. If I have say an hour, I might lift weights.”
• “I watch TV and exercise at the same time.”
• “I try to stretch and do yoga every night before bed and I make sure I have time to play tennis at least once a week by getting my schoolwork done ahead of time to accommodate for fitness time.”
• “Its super hard, but I try to do some easy workouts in my dorm, whether it be push ups or crunches when I first get home from class, and then when I finish my homework days later I try to make it to the gym”

On completing schoolwork

• “It is very hard. I get so much homework that there is almost no time to work out.”
• “School comes first. I'm a student before an athlete and my coach understands that. Mostly I go to school. Go to practice. Then come home and do my homework until late. Then get up and finish it before school. This process is then repeated for every school day after that.”
• “Schoolwork comes first. However, I will do some exercising between assignments so that I stay awake and mentally active.”
• “After I finish practice I go straight home and do my homework. No TV, phone, computer, or any distractions.”
• “I make time for what's important and recognize when something must take precedence. My schoolwork comes first, as it should, but I know that I need to take breaks and exercise is a good stress relief.”
•  “Schoolwork takes priority. I'm here primarily to learn and, on top of that, I have a scholarship that I need to maintain. But fitness is important, nonetheless. If I can't make it to the gym or don't want to, I'll take a walk or work out in my dorm room.”
• “School always comes first, but I always go to practice, never miss it. I put equal effort, time, and dedication into both.”
• “I have a study hall at school three times a week so that helps. Also, I do homework on the bus rides on the way to my games. I try to concentrate on schoolwork, though.”

On using your time wisely

• “First, I do anything I have to do for school; after I'm done with that, I do my fitness routine until the sun sets.”
• “I make sure to use my weekends wisely and plan my days out so I'm able to fit practices and a certain amount of homework in.”
• “I have really good time management skills. I work on homework any chance I get.”
• “I try to limit myself in certain things, so I have an everyday schedule that helps me have a balanced routine everyday.”
• “I do as much work during class as I can and when I'm not practicing something during a rehearsal I do homework. Then I usually stay up later to finish it.”
• “Make a schedule and stick to it. It's hard at first, but after awhile it becomes routine. I use my weekend for relaxation or to study for a challenging test.”
• “Sometimes I slack on the sleep, but I make both my sport and my schoolwork a priority, so I try very hard not to miss practice, and I never miss an assignment. I'll do almost whatever it takes to get both done, but schoolwork will always be the higher priority.”
• “I balance my activities by practicing before school and completing my school work in the afternoon after school. I do not get more than 6 hours of sleep per night, however.”
• “Plan, plan, and plan.”
• “Try and get as much done in school, so that I don't have much for homework out side of school.”
• “I exercise while I study. If I am reading for school, I will read a passage, then think about it while exercising and then return to reading or studying.”
• “I have a study hall and do as much as possible during class, as well as carefully manage my time.”
• “I schedule what I'll be doing at what time the night before. I find that once I go to the gym to workout my mind is a lot more clear and there's a sense of accomplishment that motivates me to go on with my other activities for the day.”
• “I do pretty well with time management, but the key is getting schoolwork done early whenever possible because you don't know what the next days entail.”
• “I stay up late to finish homework or do almost all projects on the weekends because I don't have time for it all during the week. I do manage my time very well though.”
• “Don't waste any time, hardly at all, ever. Stay focused on my goals and be a little selfish every once in a while. Remind myself that I wanted to be busy and I'm living happily and just how lucky I am to be living.”

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What is the correct way to take a shower?

Posted May 24, 2017 under Ask Us .

• How often? There is no rule on how often you should shower- this depends on how active you are. If you are not very active and your skin is dry, you might decide to shower 2-3 times a week. But if you are playing sports or working out and tend to sweat a lot, you’ll likely need to shower daily. If you need to shower more than once a day (once in a while) keep your showers short.
• How long? Spending too much time in the shower isn’t good for your skin. Too much time exposed to water can cause dry skin and hair. Try to keep your shower to about 5 minutes or until you are able to lather up, and rinse.
• How hot? Skin doctors actually recommend warm or cool water instead of hot water because hot water removes the natural oils on a person’s skin causing dryness.
• How often should I wash my hair? Most people wash their hair too often. You don’t have to wash your hair every time you shower but this will depend on your hair type. If you hair tends to be oily, you may need to wash your hair more often than someone who has dry hair.
• What kind of soap or products should I use? If your skin tends to be dry, it’s best to use a soap or body wash with moisturizer. If your skin isn’t dry, regular soap (your choice) and water is fine.
• What should I wash first? Wash from top to bottom. This will allow the soap to rinse off your skin.  Focus on the parts of your body that need it the most such as under your arms, breasts, vulva and feet. Be sure to wash in between skin folds and between your toes. Never put soap or lather inside your vagina as this can cause irritation— your vagina cleanses itself naturally . If you plan to wash your hair, do that first, and then wash your body. If you have acne, make sure that all the shampoo and conditioner gets rinsed away. If you like to shave your legs in the shower, do this last.
• How should I dry myself off? Gently pat yourself dry. Rubbing hard may cause irritation, dryness and/or itchiness of your skin.
• Should I use lotion after I shower?  If you use lotion, its best to use a moisturizer that is fragrance-free. Apply it to your skin 2-3 minutes after showering while your skin is still moist.

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Showering Before Bed – Is it a Good or a Bad Idea?

Last Updated on June 18, 2024

Written by Natalie Grigson

Written by Natalie Grigson, Writer

Our research process.

Here at Sleep Advisor, our editorial team utilizes reputable sources and expert feedback to provide well-researched sleep health content. For more details, read our full editorial policy.

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Showering before or after bed? What is the best solution, check out what our experts recommend.

Depending on your daily schedule, you might choose to shower in the morning, at night, or somewhere in between, such as after a workout. Choosing when to shower is not just a matter of convenience, though; showering at different times of the day can have varying physiological effects. Did you know that showering at night could help you sleep better? 

Of course, this depends on when, exactly, you get into the shower and your temperature setting, so in this article, we’ll go over how to best shower at night to improve your sleep. 

Benefits of Showering Before Bed

There are several mental and physical health benefits to taking both hot and cold showers, but before bedtime, only one will help you sleep better (and the other might make you more alert at night) In these next two sections, we’ll go over what you can expect with either a hot or cold shower before bedtime. 

Does Showering Before Bed Help You Sleep? 

As mentioned, only one type of shower could help you sleep better at night, and it is a hot shower. Research shows that taking a hot shower (or bath) about one or two hours before bedtime 1 can help with sleep. 

A cold shower, on the other hand, causes the body to temporarily release adrenaline 2 , which will give you a boost in energy. While this can be beneficial in certain cases, you should avoid it before bedtime if you aren’t trying to stay up late. 

Benefits of Hot Showers Before Bed

1. lowers your core body temperature.

It may seem counterintuitive that a hot shower before bed can help lower your core body temperature, but it’s true – at least when you time it right. When you take a hot shower (or bath) one to two hours before bed, it temporarily raises your temperature, but afterward, it causes a drop in your core temperature. 1  

This is important for sleep because a drop in your core temperature 3 signals to your body that it is time to start producing melatonin , the hormone that makes you feel sleepy.

2. Relaxes the mind

If you’ve ever sat in the hot tub or taken a relaxing bath, you probably know the effect that hot water can have on stress. The same is true for taking a hot shower, but why exactly does hot water seem to wash away stress? 

It seems the warm water can decrease certain stress hormones 4 and create more balanced serotonin levels, which help regulate mood. Plus, a warm bath or shower can give you some time alone, away from the demands of others, to decompress after a long day. 

3. Relaxes the muscles

Heat 5 helps bring more blood to the area where it is applied, so in a shower, the heat from the water will bring blood to the surface of your skin. This increase in circulation can mean muscle relaxation and recovery for those with tight muscles, muscle spasms, or joint pain. 5  

Since we tend to feel more pain at night 6 , taking a hot shower before bed could help you get better sleep if muscle pain is something that keeps you awake. 

4. Relieves Tension Headaches

Tension headaches 7 are the most common type of headache and are a result of the muscles in the neck and scalp tensing up and contracting. This is often because of underlying stress, anxiety, or even a head injury. 7  

Whatever the underlying cause, the shower’s hot water can help alleviate tension in the muscles. Not only that, but warm showers may even help some people with migraines 8 , though there is not a lot of definitive research on this. 

5. Reduces Swelling and Blood Sugar Levels

Hot water improves overall circulation 9 in the body, which can ultimately result in decreased inflammation 10 as well as a reduction in blood sugar levels. Since symptoms of inflammation in the body can include physical pain and insomnia 11 , and symptoms of high blood sugar can include extreme thirst and the need to urinate a lot 12 – all of which could keep you awake through the night – a warm shower to mitigate these symptoms seems like a good idea.

6. Relieves Congestion

If you’ve ever tried to go to sleep with nasal congestion, you know firsthand how difficult this can be. The good news is the steam from a hot shower can help clear up congestion 13 . Much like a humidifier or breathing over a pot of boiling water, the shower’s steam will help “loosen things up” and lead to better breathing before bedtime. 

7. Removes Skin Toxins

If you’ve ever tried washing greasy dishes with cold water, you probably noticed that the grease didn’t budge. It’s the same with your skin. The hot water helps to cleanse away impurities that won’t go away with cold water alone. 

If you want to get scientific about this, it’s because the hot water has more kinetic energy 14 than the cold water, meaning the molecules in hot water oscillate more rapidly. Going to bed with a clean face is important because the longer you keep dirt and toxins on your skin, the more likely you’ll wind up with clogged pores and a breakout.

Benefits of Cold Showers Before Bed

As we just learned, a hot shower one or two hours before bed will raise your body temperature immediately, and then cause it to drop, which then produces melatonin and leads to sleepiness. 1 You might reasonably assume, then, that taking a cold shower before bed would be a shortcut to dropping your core body temperature for better sleep. 

However, cold showers seem to have the opposite effect – rather than make you sleepy, they give you a boost in energy and alertness. 2

So, we don’t recommend a cold shower before bedtime, unless you’re trying to stay up late. That said, cold showers taken earlier in the day can have plenty of physical and mental health benefits. 

1. Promotes Alertness

There is a reason movies are constantly showing people being doused in cold water to wake them up: cold water temporarily increases the hormone cortisol, in other words, puts the body into a state of fight or flight. 2 This feels like a burst of energy, improved focus, and alertness. 2  

Doing this before bed will make sleep more difficult. However, if you have to stay up late for some reason, a cold shower might be a good alternative to a cup of coffee. 

2. Stimulates Immune System

 When the body is exposed to cold water, it goes into a brief state of shock, which among many other things, stimulates the blood cells 15 that fight off infections. In one study 16 , people who switched to cold showers for 30 to 90 seconds for 90 days called in sick 29 percent less than those who didn’t. 

3. Stimulates Anti-Depression Hormones

As mentioned, when we initially encounter cold water, we go into a sort of shock. During this time, a lot is happening in the body. The sympathetic nervous system (or “fight or flight” response) is activated to create a surge of energy, the immune system is stimulated, and endorphins are released. 2  

Endorphins are a group of certain hormones that can help reduce feelings of stress and anxiety by acting on the brain’s opiate receptors. 2 This is why cold showers seem to help with symptoms of both depression and anxiety 17 . 

4. Accelerates Metabolism

When the body is exposed to cold, it has to work harder to maintain its core temperature. This causes a temporary boost in your metabolism and an increase in calorie burning. 2 That said, there is not a lot of research on whether or not this actually translates to long-term weight loss. 2  

5. Frees the Mind

When you’re standing under a stream of freezing water, you’re probably not thinking about much else. There’s also some science behind this; when the body goes into a state of “fight or flight,” the mind becomes more focused and alert 18 . Biologically, this mechanism was designed to help us fight or flee from danger. In the shower, though, this might translate to time slowing down and simply being present with what your body is feeling. 18

6. Tightens the Skin

Hot water can strip away the natural oils on your skin, which can leave your complexion dry and irritated. Cold water, on the other hand, doesn’t do this. 2

Additionally, cold water leaves the skin feeling tighter and can reduce inflammation and puffiness in the face, as well as reduce the appearance of pores 2 . 

7. Reduces Hair Loss

Cold showers seem to seal the hair cuticle, which prevents moisture loss and damage to the hair overall. The result: less breakage, less hair loss, and healthier hair in general. 2  

Additionally, if your hair is dyed, stylists recommend 19 washing your hair with cold water to prevent the color from fading. 

Cold vs. Hot Showers: Which Is Better for Sleep?

A hot shower (or bath) taken one to two hours before bedtime can not only help you fall asleep, but also improve your quality of sleep through the night. 1 . Conversely, a cold shower will increase your feelings of focus, energy, and alertness. 2

If you’re trying to get some good sleep, we’d recommend taking a hot shower and reserving your cold showers for moments when you need more energy.

Cold Plunges: A Fad or Beneficial? 

Cold plunges may be trendy right now, but this sort of cold therapy isn’t anything new. Just like cold showers, cold plunges have health benefits, including boosting the immune system, improving circulation, improving mental health and focus, reducing inflammation, and relieving localized pain. 15

Starting with cold showers can be a good way to ease your body and mind into cold plunges, which are more intense. 

Saunas: Do They Provide The Same Benefits as a Hot Shower?

Saunas have some of the same benefits as hot showers. For example, if you get into the sauna about two hours before bed 20 , it has been shown to make you sleepy by lowering your core body temperature, just the same as a hot shower does. 

However, a sauna differs in that it is a much hotter, dryer heat. This extreme heat causes a series of reactions 21 in the body; the heart rate goes up, blood flow goes to the skin, blood pressure can either rise or fall, and the body sweats a lot. 

Learn more: Using a Sauna Before Bed

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it bad to shower before bed .

Showering before bed is a great idea, especially if you want to improve your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. Just be sure to take a warm or hot shower one to two hours before you plan to go to sleep so your body has time to cool off, which should help you get to sleep. 1

Is it good to take a cold shower before bed? 

Dousing your body in cold water activates the sympathetic nervous system, or the “fight or flight” response, which means you’ll feel more alert rather than sleepy. 2 Unless you are trying to stay up later for whatever reason, taking a cold shower is best done earlier in the day when you need more energy. 

If you’re like most people, you’ve probably been showering at times that fit into your schedule or simply out of habit. As you now know, though, showering at different times and different temperatures can impact your physiology in a variety of ways. For a burst of energy and focus, a cold shower is best, but if you need help sleeping, try taking a hot shower.

Natalie Grigson

About author.

Natalie is a content writer for Sleep Advisor with a deep passion for all things health and a fascination with the mysterious activity that is sleep. Outside of writing about sleep, she is a bestselling author, improviser, and creative writing teacher based out of Austin.

Combination Sleeper

• 1. Nielsen, Susie. “A Warm Bedtime Bath Can Help You Cool Down And Sleep Better”. NPR. 2019. –
• 2. “Are Cold Showers Actually Beneficial or Just Another Social Media Trend?”. Texas Health. 2024. –
• 3. Harding, Edward C., Franks, Nicholas P., Wisden, William. “The Temperature Dependence of Sleep”. Frontiers in Neuroscience. 2019. –
• 4. “Taking the Plunge: 5 Reasons Baths Are Good for You”. Cleveland Clinic. 2024. –
• 5. “Ice Packs vs. Warm Compresses For Pain”. Johns Hopkins Medicine. Webpage accessed October 17, 2024. –
• 6. Solan, Matthew. “Do we feel pain more at night?”. Harvard Health Publishing. 2024. –
• 7. “Tension headache”. Mount Sinai. Webpage accessed October 17, 2024. –
• 8. “Migraines: Simple steps to head off the pain”. Mayo Clinic. 2022. –
• 9. “Warm water works wonders on pain”. Arthritis Australia. Webpage accessed October 17, 2024. –

Consider Taking A Shower Before A Bath

Science says this is how you probably take a bath: You plug the drain and run the water to get it nice and hot. While the tub is filling up, maybe you put on some music, or a podcast, or even a sporting event. Perhaps you grab a beer or some wine or a book. Maybe you make some suds! That’s always fun. When the tub is near-full, you turn off the water and slip into it and let your troubles dissipate as your muscles unclench and your brain downshifts. It is delightful. You scrub yourself clean. You have never been more relaxed.

You then proceed to sit in a soup of soap scum and your own dirty for the next 20-40 minutes. When your filth broth becomes room temperature but has uniformly coated your skin with a fine film, you unplug the drain and stand up. You are ... relaxed? Yes. Clean? You are not.

What if I told you there is a better way?

When I take a bath, I take a shower first. A normal, quick shower—soap, shampoo. It takes two minutes. Then and only then do I plug the drain and throw the diverter to send the (already hot!) water gushing from my faucet. I let the tub fill and I sink into the bliss that only a warm, clean bath can provide. I do not soak in my own dirt, for any length of time, because I washed off that dirt before this became a bath.

There is a reason, at public swimming pools and hotel jacuzzis and hot tubs everywhere that you are strongly advised, even required, to shower before you step in. Why do you think the rules of surfactancy and hydrodynamics do not apply in your own bathroom?

There is a reason, in Japanese culture, you are expected to clean your body before entering a bath. As this explanation puts it, the tub “is used for soaking only.” And you should listen to the Japanese on bathroom stuff; they’re pretty on the ball .

But the only reason you need is peace of mind. The peace that comes with slipping low in the tub and drowning out the sound of the world with water, not with armpit stew. The peace of letting yourself slip completely beneath the surface and knowing that diluted gunk from your groin is not now adhering to your face. The peace of not having to realize, 10 minutes into your bath, that the water is way, way less clear than before you got in.

Perhaps the gain in cleanliness here is minuscule. Three hundred thousand years’ worth of humans would have given their tribe’s sharpest arrowhead for ability to bathe by “turning a knob to make hot, clean water come out of the wall and fill a tub that you can lie in.” They would not even understand the qualm here. They would have a point. But they are almost all dead. Mostly of disease. Coincidence?

Even if the difference between showering and not shower is negligible, cleanliness is not merely a physical measurement. If you feel clean, you are clean.

So there you are. You are enjoying a clean bath. You are thriving! Everything is wonderful. But the real world awaits. You cannot live forever here in the warm, wet womb, no matter how much you’d like to. And so, with regret but also with a replenished reserve of inner strength, you pull out the drainplug. As the water—clean!—swirls down the drain, and your cares with it, you rise to your feet, water sluicing off you like some giant monster rising from the deeps of Tokyo Bay. You are indomitable. You are your best you. There’s one thing left to do before you go out and conquer the world.

Have a quick rinse with the showerhead before you hop out.

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