Skill Learning and Its Amazing impact on Brain!
Skill should not be considered the most complex one but simple skills also works for your brain!
Remember your childhood when outdoor games were given more importance than video games, hanging out with friends was more important than WhatsApp and extra-curricular activities were given more priority than just scoring good marks in exams. If you see here all our activities before required some form of learning a new skill like interacting and knowing your friend, their experiences, their funny stories and the amazing facts they knew or when we hung out with friends we explored different places in the city or around the country and the most important thing the extra-curricular activities like dance, music, sports, drawing, painting and so on. Everything made our brain out of the monotonous routine that we have now.
Like any muscles, the brain also needs to be exercised in order to give its highest performance. Exercising our brain is proved to increase our cognitive functions and overall well being of our brain especially for older adults as their brain cells weaken as they age. We could exercise in a number of ways like reading, meditating, listening to music, solving puzzles or doing maths or physical exercises but one fascinating thing people forget is learning a new skill. Yes, you heard it right! I know most of us suck at playing the guitar or have broken new year resolution to master a skill but you know what learning from failures is also a skill, and it’s equally beneficial for you. Skill doesn’t mean you have to do a herculean tasks to show off but, even a simple skill like cooking your own food, making a craft, drawing and painting or just learning a new language could be considered a skill.
Let’s now understand the Newroscience of learning. Whenever we learn something new our brain forms new neurons, new synaptic connections and make the existing connections weak or strong. Learning new skill also lead to optimum dopamine release in our brain as we feel excited to try out something new and keep the Parkinson’s disease away. The gray and white matter of our brain increases which leads to increase in cognitive functions. Parietal cortex and posterior hippocampus also enlarges when we master a skill or learn which is linked to learning and memory.
Pandemic is harsh on everyone but your brain health should not be compromised in any way. The brain seems to be most neglected part in these times and the pandemic has become a scapegoat for it. Yes, the pandemic is harsh but becoming a couch potato and netflixing the whole day or just being glued to your cell phone is overburdening your brain with too much information that it is incapable of processing. Give your brain a break by at least giving it rest one day in a week where you just spend learning a new skill or doing what you like. So, do you want to learn an easy skill? Tryout this simple skill of taking new routes everyday, try out cooking new dishes, groom yourself in a new way or just doing your daily work from your opposite hand is a new skill! Do spend a time learning a new skill and your brain will thank you later by functioning exceptionally well as you age.
