Sometimes I do my homework standing up.
Granted, I do look a little goofy. My roommate will walk into the room and see me semi-dancing with a book in front of me and shoot more than one arched eyebrow.
But regardless, I think that standing up while studying or doing homework is really beneficial.
For one thing, you’re getting exercise. Standing up takes a lot more energy than sitting down does, and thus you’re burning more calories. Plus, being on your two legs gives room for you to start doing other things, such as dancing, wiggling your legs, or jumping up in the air to metaphorically reach a level of understand of Calculus that you’re just not doing in your head.
But in my experience, standing while studying also helps me memorize the material better. When I’m sitting down and studying, I feel constrained somehow, and I feel almost intimidated by the book I’m reading. Sitting down, there is no escape from the scary problems that jump out at you on the page, yelling at you and making fun of you when you can’t solve them. And you have to just take it, in that chair, and suffer through the pain of your stupidity. Or least, that’s how I feel.
However, if I have my work on my bed and I’m standing on my feet, I can swiftly move away from the book and take a couple seconds to myself by pacing the room or do a little dance to the dubstep I always have playing. The frustration that builds when doing homework or studying for a difficult exam (I c u Phyziks) can be broken down literally because I allow myself a little break from it.
But it’s not all about escaping the confines of my unintelligence. Standing up makes me feel more powerful and more engaged with the material I’m studying. I feel like there is more action involved, because while sitting down, you are in a reclined state and not doing much except reading or writing. Standing up, there’s a lot more that goes on. I can square my shoulders and set my feet when I do a difficult problem, mimicking the stance I use when I’m about to truck an offender in a soccer game, and feel like I’m attacking the material instead of the other way around. Or I can play nice with the 15th century literature that I don’t understand, and dance with the book in my hand, establishing a close, intimate connection that you just can’t do sitting down. Either way, more memorization gets done, and that's all that matters.
So next time you’re about to sit down and get inappropriately treated by difficult homework or studying, square up, get up from your seat, and literally stand up to it. I promise it’ll be fun.
