L – The role of learning in health and wellbeing

Let’s talk now about the learning aspect of self-care. Simply speaking, the brain operates a use it or lose it policy. So the more active we can engage our brain, the better, and learning new things right through each stage of life has been shown to be of significant benefit, both for cognitive ability and to reduce the onset of things like Dementia and Alzheimer’s. You may have heard about doing brain puzzles for brain health well, that might not be as significant an effect as learning new skills, but the principle holds true. We need to be engaging our brain in thought. We need to do things that are both challenging and interesting.

Research also says that at times we should question our sense of belief in things and challenge ourselves to think in new and creative ways. If we combine this sort of learning with physical activity and quality sleep, that’s the ideal mix for brain health. So maybe consider doing new things informal learning is good. Maybe cooking a new meal from scratch or taking a different route on a familiar journey. Engaging in something that is purposeful, something that we find enjoyable, something where we reward the effort of learning is exceptionally good for our health and well-being.