What effects do you think cramming on a regular basis would have on a person's mental health?

Question

School work, textbooks, notes, etc... as well as reading online, to which I guess I have no limits or discipline... can go on for hours and hours and hours reading, cramming and cramming, and find that hours later I haven't actually learned anything, or find what I was looking for...

Answer 1

The mind works a bit like a computer in that without repetition it places most things in the recycle bin for discard. Within 24 to 48 hours, things which have not been reinforced are not considered necessary or important enough for you to remember. Large parcels of information often require incremental learning. Learning the fundamentals, then reflection, then re-reading to reinforce the fundamentals and you can retain Chapter A, for example. Without the pause for reflection, the actual thinking about what you have learned, you miss a key step in remembering which is your reaction to what you are learning. Unless you are having a traumatic experience which will imprint deeply upon your mind, your brain will not know that what you are reading is important to remember. Cramming is great for the highly intelligent who can get away with it for the next day's exam, but you wont actually retain much for the longterm. Best way to learn: Listen and take notes during class, then re-write or re-type your notes, later record your notes and the chapter summaries into a tape recorder, then later play the tape back to yourself, these things all done on daily basis (1 thing a day) before you cram for your exam. Your brain will have entered most of the knowledge into permanent storage before you even begin cramming. Not only will you ace your exams but you will still remember the material ten years later.

If you are doing research, time again is a key element. You cannot absorb all there is on a topic and sort information and make decisions because you have left out the key mental reflection process. Do some research, then reflect. Write down the links you came across for reading the next day. The next day, read the links you came across the previous day, again while making note of additional links to follow up on later. After a couple of days your brain will begin to be familiar with the new information, and you can start being able to sort through it. Otherwise it is all a big mess of unsifted details where everything seems important and you are unable to make good mental connections as to what is a point, a supporting point or just a plain tangent. Voracious readers just need to understand how the brain works to put their talents and gifts to work for them, instead of feeling like they spent a lot of time without much to really show for it.

Answer 2

There are a number of possible consequences, but the most likely is: very little or nothing, unless the behavior is sustained over quite a long period of time and actually interferes with day-to-day living.

For example, If your "cramming" is so extensive that it is causing you to become socially isolated, then that is a problem. If you are "cramming" to avoid addressing other important issues in your life, then that clearly is also a problem. If you are doing so in poor lighting, then eyesight issues could be a consideration.

It sounds like the problem may not so much be the "cramming" itself, but the fact that you are retaining so little of the information. A more effective approach may be to study for a limited time each night, rather than "cramming" extensively around test time.

Answer 3

if you read that much, you learned something. You might not think what you learned is valuable to what you were studying at the moment but you still learned something and you'd be amazed at how valuable it can prove to be. I think the only way it could harm you would be if your reading starts making you paranoid or worried unnecessarily but then I would suggest changing what you read rather than how much. Being an avid reader myself (even a cereal box if I'm desperate enough) I find that everything sinks in and occasionally becomes useful.

The only thing you should really be concerned with is if you are reading this much to escape life. As long as you are still participating in other things and have friends you don't have a problem. If you are reading to avoid being involved in anything or with friends, then you should put down the research once in awhile and go outside and do things.

Answer 4

Cramming is OK to a little extent. Instead of cramming, children should understand what has been written and make their own language to write which would also develop the mind...

Answer 5

Basically, it could cause stress or anxiety due to you wasting your time. Also low self-esteem. Eventually those things could lead to depression, which could lead to you wasting even more time doing useless **** online or w/e.

Reading for hours and hours isn't bad at all though. You probably learn more from it than you think you do. It's only when it interferes with your life that it's an issue. Try finding some info on time management or something.

Answer 6

it depends on what sex if YOU are. A female, it will very might have affect on your mental status, women think with the opposite side of the brain then male's,in which there is allot more room for error.as for the male the side that he user's has many more brain cells that of the female.

Answer 7

DO YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT I THINK ?