ABOUT LIFELONG LEARNING AND THE BRAIN
Is Lifelong Learning really critical to remaining healthy and active?
You bet!
Consider this: one of the biggest revelations to come out of the 1990s was that the human brain undergoes significant physiological change when exposed to new learning and new experiences.
What does this mean?
It means that research undertaken at Harvard, Duke and Johns Hopkins Universities, to name just a few locations, is now showing that keeping our brains stimulated through Lifelong Learning and other activities will dramatically help retain mental alertness as we age. The brain's physical anatomy actually responds to these enriching activities and is changed for the better!
Think of it this way: all that old wiring inside your head might lose some of its insulation over the years if you do nothing. But by engaging in lifelong learning, you not only preserve that older wiring with better insulation, but you also upgrade your electrical system by growing new cells and pathways, thereby enhancing your response times, thought processes, and reflexes.
Scientists are also studying the possibility that lifelong learning could help stave off Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases in some people predisposed to those illnesses.
Here is a short summary of just three of the recent studies about brain re-growth:
- Doctors Fred H. Gage of the Salk Institute in San Diego and Peter S. Eriksson of the Goteborg University Institute of Clinical Neuroscience have collected data that shows that the brain of adult humans-even older adults-regularly regenerate neurons in the hippocampus (the section of the brain responsible for learning).
- The research of Doctor Marion Diamond, University of California, Berkeley, with rats shows the positive relationship between an enriched environment (cages with toys and other rats) and brain development in rats. Dr. Diamond says, "The enriched rats had a thicker cerebral cortex (responsible for higher nervous functions), than the rats (in impoverished environments)."
- Charles Gilbert and other researchers at Rockefeller University discovered that the brain can repair itself and construct memory, and in so doing can change thought-patterns and learn new skills. Both repair and memory depend on stimulation or mental activity, something that as a society we have tended to ignore. Dr. Gilbert says, "We need to recognize the importance of challenging our minds as a vital component of health, and of mental health."
Imagine the possibilities!
Lifelong Learning is perfect for developing the necessary activity and creativity that will allow your brain to keep working.
Lifelong Learning enables both old and new talents and skills to be rediscovered or developed. The increased self-esteem that results from these activities is priceless.
Just like our hearts, our brains need to be nurtured, and lifelong learning is one very important way to ensure that care. In the words of Dr. Paul Nussbaum, director of the Aging Research and Education Center in Pittsburgh, PA, "...every time your heart beats, 25% of that blood goes right to the brain. But while exercise is critical, it may be education that is more important. In the 21st century, education and information may become for the brain what exercise is for the heart."
Lifelong Learning for older adults is certainly too important to ignore!
Lifelong Learning in the Classroom
