Here Are 5 of the Best Reasons to Practice Lifelong Learning!
Medically Reviewed by Dr. Parris Kidd
Have you ever made a list of goals that you wanted to accomplish? Maybe some of the goals were fitness or health-related? Many of us enjoy the process of working on our own personal goals, but how many of us think to focus on lifelong learning?
By lifelong learning, we mean, training your brain to enjoy learning new things! There are so many benefits to lifelong learning for your overall health and specifically for your brain.
Benefits of Lifelong Learning
- Sharpens your memory – Specifically your working memory (multitasking) and for remembering small details day-to-day
- Boost your self-confidence – Who doesn’t want to feel proud of themselves?
- Learn new practical skills – Learn how to manage your finances better, computer skills, or even improving your communication skills!
- Discover new hobbies or talents – You won’t know what you’re good at unless you try!
- Become a positive example for your children – Teaching by example works wonders with little ones, especially when they see how fun learning can be.
What are some of the best ways to practice lifelong learning?
In today’s digital age, there are countless opportunities to practice lifelong learning that you can do in the comfort of your own home anytime that’s convenient for you. That’s why it’s recommended you consider taking an online course. Continuing your lifelong learning online can be more cost-effective and convenient, especially if you’re a working professional or busy raising a family.
Embracing new knowledge will help keep your brain young and pliable while enriching every experience in your life.
To keep your brain sharp, here are our best ways to practice lifelong learning.
5 Ways to Practice Lifelong Learning
1. Use It or Lose It
One of the best ways to expand your horizons is to continually engage in new learning. When you stop learning, you start dying. Since your brain is like a muscle – the more you use it, the stronger it gets.¹ When you learn something, new neural connections are created, which improves your capacity to remember. In fact, regardless of your age, mental exercise has an overall positive effect on your brain. On the other hand, when you stop learning, cognitive performance suffers as the internal connections in your brain begin to break apart.
2. Avoid Repetition
Even if your routine tasks are fairly complicated, such as teaching a college course or fixing a crashed computer network, they won’t help your brain as much as learning something new. Whenever the brain does something over and over, it learns how to do it using less and less energy. That tells us something about how to exercise the brain. Just doing crossword puzzles or Sudoku isn’t enough to actually enough to strengthen your brain. To get the maximum benefit from a brain training exercise, our brains need to be challenged with new forms of stimulation. Try something you haven’t done before such as doing math in your head, learning a foreign language, or trying new recipes.
3. Online Learning
To create a brighter future, learn to master your health, emotions, relationships, and brain with online courses. Founded in 2015, Dr. Amen’s Amen University helps teach people of all ages from all over the world about practical neuroscience. The courses center around the Amen Clinics Method, which has been used to help tens of thousands of patients from 111 countries.
Here are just a few of the courses available at Amen University that you can start learning from today!
Amen University Courses
The Brain Warriors Way is a comprehensive online course to help you learn how to have self-mastery in your overall health. Taught by Daniel Amen, MD and Tana Amen, BSN RN to help you learn how to shift your mindset, develop daily habits to protect your brain, healthy nutrition, and establish long-lasting brain health in every aspect of your life. You also get to join the brain warrior tribe with access to a community that is centered around mastering brain healthy goals for life!
Brain Thrive by 25 is made for students. Earn 3 transferable undergraduate credits through this scientifically-designed, research-based course designed for teenagers and young adults. Multi-Dimensional Education, Inc. (MDEI), an independent education research group, found that the 12-lesson course significantly decreased drug, alcohol and tobacco use, decreased depression, and improved self-esteem.
Change Your Brain Masters course is for anyone interested in taking a deep dive into personal brain improvement. This course teaches you how to implement brain health in your life. Learn basic neuroscience and how the brain works, how to manage others and their brain types, and learn how to utilize the Amen Clinic’s Alzheimer’s Risk Reduction Program.
Healing ADD at Home in 30 Days is for anyone who wants to learn more about ADD. Comprehensive, thorough and powerful—this course was designed to teach anyone with ADD, or anyone who has a loved one with ADD, the tools, and strategies to succeed in the classroom, work, relationships and in life.
4. Give Yourself a Break
Many people equate taking breaks with wasting time, but research demonstrates that taking breaks actually improves your focus and efficiency and can help your brain learn new skills.² If you focus on a task for too long, your cognitive control system can start to fail. By switching your attention to something else briefly, you can then return to your original task with renewed focus.
5. Get Learning Support
Trouble Focusing? If you’re easily distracted when you study, boost your potential with Attention Support. Its ingredients were carefully chosen for their clinically proven benefits to concentration, calm, and overall self-control without pharmaceutical side effects.
Mentally Exhausted? If you get tired after a brief period of studying, Focus & Energy can help you power through your coursework. If you’re looking for a smoother “pick me up,” Focus & Energy naturally supports your body’s energy level with green tea, choline, and ginseng. And unlike the quick burst and sudden drop in energy you get from go-to daily stimulants (coffee, diet soda, caffeine pills), you’ll experience consistent and clean energy.
Start Your Journey Today
Regardless of your age, it’s never too late to start learning with Amen University courses, or supporting your attention and energy with BrainMD supplements. Take the first step in the journey of lifelong learning today!
References:
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