Five Healthy Lifestyle Activities That Will Help You Learn Better

"As long as you live, keep learning how to live."

-Seneca

Healthy lifestyle habits are good for many reasons, and one of these reasons is that they can improve our ability to learn. Not all of these activities are equally useful when it comes to learning, but some of them, especially the basics (sleep, exercise, and diet), are extremely important. This article discusses some of the most important lifestyle activities that can help you live a healthy life and improve learning, especially language learning.

Sleep

Sleep is the body's chance to recharge and rebuild itself, and it is one of the foundations of a healthy life. We often forget just how important it is to get enough sleep, but research shows that lack of sleep is responsible for many health problems and is connected with a shorter life span. Sleep also plays an essential role in learning.  Studies have shown that students who don't get enough sleep do more poorly on exams. This is because sleep not only helps us to focus on and understand what we learn while awake, but it also helps us to memorize what we learn while asleep. During sleep, the brain helps to edit, analyze, and organize what we have learned, which improves our ability to remember important information.

Most people should try to get between seven to eight hours of sleep a night. This can be hard to do sometimes in our busy, modern life, but we need to make it a priority, as it's so important for our health. Naps can be helpful too. Some research has shown that even short naps help us learn better. However, naps are not a substitute for a good night's rest (and naps that are too long can interfere with our sleep at night). In order for sleep to improve your health and learning, regular nightly sleep is necessary in order for your brain to go through all the stages and cycles of sleep. If you have problems getting to sleep, here are some suggestions for improving your sleep.

Diet

The saying, "You are what you eat", is a good way to remember the importance of a healthy diet. Our brain is like an expensive car: it needs quality fuel to function. Eating a proper diet is essential to a healthy life and learning as well. A healthy diet helps to improve cognitive processes like memory and attention. Studies have shown that unhealthy diets are a factor for poor student performance in schools.

It's not difficult to eat a healthy diet. The food writer, Michael Pollan gives this excellent advice: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." The key part of this advice is to understand that Pollan defines "food" as natural food that has not been processed (ingredients like sugar or salt have not been added to the food), and therefore, there is not a long list of ingredients. Experts also consider what's known as the Mediterranean diet to be one of the healthiest diets.

It's also important to make sure that you're eating regularly to make sure the brain has enough fuel to function well. Often, if we are having trouble concentrating, it's because we haven't eaten in a few hours. It's usually best to eat every three hours, or when you start to feel hungry. Having a healthy snack before studying or taking an exam can help boost performance.

Finally, remember that we need food and water for a healthy diet. It's important to stay hydrated, and drink enough water to help your brain function at its best. Water is really the best drink to have, and it’s especially important not to drink sugary drinks like soda, or even too much fruit juice (particularly if there is added sugar).

Physical Exercise

Most people can understand the importance of the first two foundations of a healthy lifestyle, sleep and diet, but they might not realize how important the third foundation, exercise, is as well. However, research has shown that physical exercise is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle and promotes learning as well. If it were a pill, exercise would be a wonder drug, and indeed, exercise is like medicine for our body and mind. From reducing risk of disease, to fighting aging, to boosting our mood and productive, exercise truly is like a wonder drug for all aspects of our health.

A growing body of research has also shown that exercise has extremely positive benefits for the brain and learning. Studies have shown that students that exercise regularly are able to focus and memorize better in class. Research also shows that exercising before a lesson can help one learn better during the lesson.

In general, one should try to get at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week, at least 3 times a week, to get the most positive effects of exercise. Of course, some exercise is better than nothing! It can be hard to find the time to get enough exercise, which is why you might consider High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), as it allows you to do short but intense periods of exercise. According to research, the effects of these short and intense workouts are the same as longer workouts. Also, simple things during your daily routine, like taking the stairs instead of the elevator or walking more, can be effective ways to incorporate more physical exercise into our busy lives.  It can be hard to stay motivated to exercise for some people, which is why one should also try to find exercise that is enjoyable. Making exercise a habit is another way to make exercise easier to keep up. Finally, making it social, for example, doing exercise with friends, can also help to motivate you to exercise regularly. Here are some more tips on how to start exercising regularly.

Mindset

How we see the world and ourselves plays an extremely important role in how we live and learn. If we have a pessimistic and negative view of ourselves, it can greatly hurt our wellbeing and ability to learn. The term, mindset, means how we view ourselves and the world. Research on mindset shows that people tend to have two types of mindsets, a fixed mindset and a growth mindset, and which one you have can have a big impact on your life. Those with fixed mindsets tend to see their abilities as fixed, they can’t be changed, and therefore, they don’t try to do better. Whatever intelligence and abilities they have, whether at math or languages, these abilities are fixed, and they can’t get better at them. On the other hand, those with growth mindsets tend to see their abilities as something they can improve. If a person with a fixed mindset does poorly on test, they will usually not try harder and believe that there is nothing to do to improve their score. A person with a growth mindset will be more likely to try to think that they can improve their score, if they make more of an effort. People with growth mindsets are more likely to see challenges and mistakes in life as things that help them to improve.

The good news is people who have fixed mindsets can be taught to develop a growth mindset. These discoveries are very important for learning. Think about whether you have more of a fixed or growth mindset. Do you see challenges as an opportunity for growth or do you often avoid these challenges? Do you think your abilities to learn are fixed or do you think you can improve, if you work hard and put in the effort? These are important questions to ask oneself. I’ve had students who had difficulties learning English mainly because their fixed mindsets made learning much harder for them. They didn’t believe that with the right kind of effort they could improve.

Often, for students who struggle with a fixed mindset, simply explaining the idea of mindset to students and encouraging them to develop a growth mindset enough to help them. However, often life circumstances make altering our fixed mindset more difficult. My students who found it very difficult to change their mindset usually had other issues in their life, such as stress, anxiety or depression, which kept their mindset (and their lives) limited. Dealing with these issues can be are important first steps to improve health and learning potential.

This is why mindset and mental health are often linked. If you find that you have more of a fixed mindset, think about how you might shift to a growth mindset and what factors in your life might be holding you back. In addition to making sure these basic healthy life style activates are done, sometimes it’s necessary to learn some lessons from psychotherapy, or even better, go to a psychotherapist to try to see what’s keep us from growing. Just as lack of a healthy diet and exercise can weaken our physical body, lack of healthy mindset and coping skills can weaken our mental health. Therapy can help us strength these skills to live, love, and learn better.

Social Connections

Humans are social animals, and strong social connections are essential for our wellbeing. People with better social relationships usually live longer and have happier lives. Social connections are also important for learning for many reasons. Learning with others helps to stimulate our brain more, and the social interaction can support, guide and motivate us.

It almost goes without saying that the relationships between teacher and students is a key component of successful learning. Students and teachers that have good relationships are much more likely to enhance the learning process. Good relationships among students is also important, as fellow students can serve to support and motivate each other as well. An optimal learning environment is one where a growth mindset is encouraged, students feel safe and supported, and motivated and challenged. 

Of course, some people are able to learn well, or prefer learning, by themselves. However, even for these people, it can be helpful to do some learning with others. This is because learning with others helps support one’s learning goals and progress towards these goals. A good teacher or learning community can help learners set up achievable goals, support their progress, help them overcome obstacles and give them much needed feedback.

More than most subjects, social connections are usually essential for learning to speak languages. Hence, learning languages can be an excellent way to enhance social connections. This, of course, can be done in a formal learning environment, like classes with a professional teacher, or informally among native speakers. Practicing a language while traveling, at language clubs or in other social settings, is a great way to learn while benefiting from the healthy power of social connections.