What You Do When You’re Not Learning

Your brain is a part of your body, and your learning approach is a part of the rest of your lifestyle. Effective lifelong learners not only have study and work protocols that do the job, they also have habits and practices outside of study that indirectly support their learning.

The idea that physical wellness has a direct and measurable effect on cognitive health is by now well established. Regular exercise has a host of benefits, not least of which is boosting blood flow to the brain, providing fresh oxygen and nutrients to this precious organ and simultaneously removing waste products. A study done by Dr. Douglas B. McKeag concludes that a workout before study leaves you feeling more alert and focused, ready to absorb new information.

Mental training games and puzzles are great, but you may be able to derive more from basic exercise like going for a jog or swim. Exercise elevates mood and cuts stress levels, too, helping you live a more balanced and healthy life when you close the books for the day.

In: 2011

A: 2011

It doesn’t matter what exercise you opt for, only make sure you get your heart rate up and move! Many people report slogging away at an obstacle in their work or studies, only to have a flash of insight into the problem the moment they step away from the books and go for a run, for example. If you’re routinely making self-care and your own fitness goals a priority, you’ll build a solid routine and a strengthened sense of self-determination and confidence in yourself—which will naturally carry over to your learning activities.

If you’re wondering whether other lifestyle factors—such as diet and stress—make a difference, it’s no surprise that the scientific evidence strongly suggests they do. An often-overlooked aspect of healthy living is sleep, especially if you’re cramming for an exam or pulling an all-nighter.

Your brain is an organ like any other in your body, and it needs to rest. During sleep, the brain recuperates and refreshes itself. Sleeping consolidates what you’ve leant, helping the brain retain new information. Without enough good-quality sleep, learning is measurably affected, your mood dips and your memory takes a knock. In fact, staying up all night can damage your learning ability by up to 40 percent, according to sleep scientist Dr. Matthew Walker at the University of California, Berkeley. It can take days for your brain to recover from sleep deprivation.

If you’re trying to cement new ideas and strengthen your recall of new material, sleep is your best ally, and not cramming and staying up late into the night. Sleep done before you study primes and prepares your brain, and sleep done after study is like clicking the “save” button on your memory. Think of memories gathered throughout the day as, in Walker’s words, “raw and fragile,” only becoming set and solid after a good night’s sleep.

Non-REM stages of sleep are deeply restful and lay the groundwork for good learning the next day. The REM stage is more active and may play a role in creatively linking new ideas and recognizing novel patterns. A good night’s sleep can have you waking up to a new solution to a problem or a creative new angle to explore. It can also help you process your emotions, enhancing your ability to self-regulate and manage stress.

If learning is important—not just for the exam tomorrow but for your lifelong enrichment—then sleep is nonnegotiable. The best techniques combined with all the willpower and passion in the world will not make up for a tired brain that needs rest.

As you plan a learning strategy, don’t forget to include all the activities that surround and support your learning. Routines that contain some room for flexibility are best. Eat well, sleep deeply and regularly, and exercise often to ensure that you’re physically in the best position to learn to your fullest potential.

Meditate—stress can induce corticotropin-releasing hormones into your body that actively hinder the formation of new memories, not to mention making you feel awful. Regular study breaks to exercise, relax, practice mindfulness or sleep can have a better effect overall than merely ploughing on with a punishing learning schedule.

If we have not only a growth mindset/beginner’s mind but also self-compassion and patience, we set more reasonable goals and don’t beat ourselves up when we make mistakes, thus ensuring our path is not high-stress and unpleasant, but slow and steady. Remember, you have to continually adjust expectations according to where you’re at today, not to where you want to be in a year’s time.

What about all those special brain-boosting dietary supplements? Is it possible that certain foods, minerals or herbs can enhance your learning and even intelligence? Unfortunately, there’s little consistent evidence that any of these supplements help all that much. While correcting a nutritional deficiency is likely to improve overall cognitive function, there are sadly no brain superfoods on the market that are proven to boost your concentration or any other abilities that aid learning.

However, one practice that does improve concentration and is backed by research is performing deep breathing exercises before a study session. The Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience has found that deep breathing regulates the level of noradrenaline in your brain. This neurotransmitter enhances concentration levels by calming your mind, allowing it to stay focused on one thing—the material you’re about to study.

If you’re confused about which breathing exercise to perform, here is a simple one that will do the job. Think of it as the “4-2-4 rule” to make it easier to remember. First, close your eyes and take a deep breath through your nose for four seconds. Once you feel that your lungs are completely filled with air, hold your breath for two seconds. Finally, exhale for four seconds. Repeat this at least thrice before studying to relax yourself.

While this exercise is best performed on a bed, make sure that you don’t end up studying at the same spot. It is extremely important to separate the spaces where we study and rest. This will help our mind associate one place with one specific activity, enabling it to perform that task better. In other words, if you use your bed only to rest, you’ll find it easier to relax and fall asleep when you lie down. However, if you use it to both rest and study, the opposite will likely happen. Studying on beds also comes with the considerable temptation of taking naps. Avoid it by using a desk instead!

Regardless of where you study, however, it is also important to regulate the temperature of your environment if possible. Researchers at Cornell University have found that the optimal temperature for performance is somewhere between 22-25 degrees Celsius (72-77 degrees Fahrenheit). Temperatures lower than that resulted in decreased output and more frequent errors among officegoers who were part of the study.

Lastly, time your learning schedule appropriately. Certain times of the day are better for cognitively intense tasks compared to others. Late mornings (around ten a.m.) is the time when our brain is most equipped to deal with mentally challenging tasks, whereas the time between twelve and four p.m. is when we’re usually exposed to the most distractions in our day. This distinction occurs because late mornings are when our brain is the most alert, well-fed, and unfettered by the rest of the day's happenings.