By Dr. Attia Anwar
As we age, our minds and mental health become more important. We should try to maintain and improve them. Education is a perfect way to do that. Learning is not only beneficial for our minds but also keeps our bodies healthy. Lifelong learning is a form of self-initiated education that is focused on personal development. It helps us achieve satisfaction and personal fulfillment.
Learning new skills will help you to keep your prospects of life up to date. It gives you insight into recent advancements and changes. It will keep you stimulated and give you the ability to handle different challenges. Keeping your mind stimulated and keeping a cycle of information makes your mind happy. As a result, your mindset becomes satisfied as compared to the bitterness that comes with old age. The result is you become happy. Lifelong learning can be in any way. It can be taking classes or courses. It can be working or a new job in a different field that requires preparation for meetings and work. We can learn from new colleagues. Learning helps us to improve our mental health. You may think learning new things can increase our stress levels. However, there are different forms of stress-free learning. Learning in your way at your own pace is important. You can reflect on what you have learned. It is not a typical university student learning to pass an exam. It is real learning just for the sake of improving your knowledge and mental capacity. This type of learning boosts your well-being. It improves your quality of life. There are many great and fun ways of learning without the hassles of tests and exams. Many studies have shown that people engaged in learning reported feeling better about themselves in general and have had more hope in their lifelong goals and general aspirations. We can learn how to cook new recipes, fix broken things at home, and learn a new hobby like painting or writing.
Why lifelong learning makes us happy in the long term because we as a human have a natural drive to explore new things and ideas. We want to improve our quality of life by learning new things. If we don’t learn new essential skills it hinders us internally. We feel incapable and then become bitter about life. We can learn what makes us humans. We have a natural curiosity about things. As a child, we learn to ride a bike and as an adult, we learn to cook new dishes. Both of them are very enjoyable experiences for us. Personal fulfillment comes if we learn with our natural interest, curiosity, and motivation. We are not learning for someone else but just for ourselves. This learning should be voluntary, self-taught, and often informal and usually does not require any cost.
Lifelong learning renews our self-motivation. Sometimes we are stuck in mundane tasks of daily life and do not know what inspires us. Then suddenly reading a book gives you a different motivation. You feel good and younger. You re-ignite your interests and goals. Suddenly you feel that your boredom is gone and you start living with a purpose. And you never know where your actual interests can lead you by focusing on them. It will improve your personal and professional development. Everyone who learned computer and internet skills although they have never used it in their earlier life, feel more confident and has excess to more knowledge. If you are busy acquiring knowledge you are developing other skills also. They can be interpersonal, problem-solving, or critical-thinking skills. They in turn help you in personal and professional development. This will make you feel good and improve your confidence. Seeking new information is also a fun way to engage with others. As a result, you feel happy and socially connected. It prevents isolation in old age. Avoiding isolation is generally good for mental health in old age. It will give you increased satisfaction and a sense of purpose.
One most important benefits of lifelong learning is that it keeps your brain active, healthy, and young. It does not only make you capable but it helps in preventing and minimizing the cognitive decline in old age. If loss of brain function is avoided you can spend your golden years living independently, having control over your life, and making your own decisions. Learning stimulates the brain leading to the development of new neural pathways. It improves your memory and delays the development of dementia. It strengthens cognitive reserve by challenging the brain to recall and apply new information. That is why the brain is protected against degeneration. In old age, it is very important to have cognition. Otherwise, you may live longer, but your quality of life is worse. So aging healthily requires lifelong learning. It is as simple as if you do physical activity your muscles get strong and they do not decline easily. If you use your brain it is going to improve and does not degenerate easily. Being physically active also has a beneficial effect on the brain. If you want to learn you should better learn in a diversified manner. Diversity means it should be recreational learning, self-directed learning, and formal classroom learning.
To begin the journey of lifelong learning at any age first, you have to recognize what are your interests. Then you can see what you can learn. You can make a list and become proactive in the learning process. You can formulate your learning goals and commit.
I believe that lifelong learning is a beautiful thing. Out of all the things which are important for our well-being I enjoy it most. Learning in a stress-free environment just for the sake of learning is important for our growth as a person. If you stop learning and adapting to new things after a certain age. Your soul becomes rotten. To be alive fully and keep our brain active we should not let curiosity inside us die till the last breath.
The author Dr. Attia Anwar is a consultant family physician with a postgraduate degree from the Royal College of GP UK. She is a strong advocate of health and well-being and wants patient participation in decision-making regarding health.
