Brain Gains: Why Learning Keeps You Sharp, Strong, and Forever Young

Human knowledge and understanding has always been analogous to the current it thing in science. A few decades ago, scientists were under the impression that the brain was like a computer. That it was a mechanical, pre-programmed entity designed to slow down and run out of juice over time. Turns out that was nonsense. The brain, recent studies have revealed, is a living, breathing neural network of connections that adapt, shift, rewire, and grow as long as you keep feeding it new information. It craves new patterns, and if we want to save our mental gears from rusting, the way to go is to learn more.

If your muscles grow stronger with exercise, why shouldn’t your mind?

Truth be told, that understanding is something that the holistic sciences have always understood—that the brain and body work together; keep one engaged and the other follows. It’s like when you work out and your brain rewards the body by releasing dopamine. Similarly, if you learn new stuff, your body follows suit by retaining its energy, momentum, and youthfulness.

How Modern Science Validates Lifelong Learning

Modern science has names for each of those phenomena.

It’s called psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), which explains how learning, mental stimulation, and positive emotions influence overall physical health, including immune function, energy levels, and longevity.

The theory of embodied cognition also suggests that the brain and body are deeply interconnected, meaning that mental activity directly influences physical wellbeing and vice-versa. When you engage in learning, your body responds by enhancing neural plasticity, improving blood circulation, and even boosting dopamine and serotonin levels.

A more general way to describe this would be “neurobiological synergy,” which is the idea that the mind and body are dynamically linked, reinforcing each other to maintain health and cognitive vitality.

And, if we’re just talking about the mind, then the term you’re looking for is neuroplasticity, i.e. your brain never stops building new pathway unless you stop learning. Every time you learn a new thing, you lay down fresh tracks in your mind, keeping your recall, focus, and problem-solving skills firing on all cylinders.

Why You Shouldn’t Stop Learning

Because age shouldn’t gatekeep the activities that you’d once want to have pursued.

Because age is not a qualifier for most activities. Bungee jumping, cave diving, black belt Krav Maga? Sure. You can whip out Donald Glover’s “I’m too old for this sh*t” in those specific scenarios, but what about art? What about writing? Catching up on and critiquing all the movies and TV shows you never got to watch when you were younger because you simply didn’t have time? What about something new? Like gaming?

Did you know there is a retired Vietnam sniper, 72 years old, who’s found his second calling as an online gamer playing Battlefield and streaming it on his socials? And his real-life sniping experience translated to him becoming one heck of a player on that first person shooter. He goes by @grndpagaming on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube if you’re interested.

Learning at senior age:

• Helps retain your memories and forces your brain to organize, recall and connect old information, keeping your memory fresh and sharp.
• It gives you a social life in the form of online communities, book clubs, language classes, hiking groups, sports meetups, and tons more! Learning brings people together, and, let’s be real, staying social beats sitting around bored at home.
• Boosts your confidence. There’s nothing like that moment when you finally get something new. Whether it’s painting, dancing, or figuring out the nuances of ChatGPT, ever little win builds confidence and keeps life exciting.
• Slows down cognitive decline. How? A lazy brain is a rusty brain. Challenging your brain with new experiences makes it more resilient. Seniors who practice new things and keep learning are less likely to develop dementia or Alzheimer’s.
• If you keep at it long enough, problem solving becomes second nature, whether it’s crossword puzzles, figuring out new apps, or putting together IKEA furniture. That problem-solving keeps your brain nimble.

So What Should You Learn?

If your brain never stops evolving, then why should your curiosity?

The sky’s the limit! I mean, think about it. For the first time in your life, you’ve got time. There’s no rush, no capitalistic urge to monetize a skill or talent and turn it into a money-making endeavor. Do you realize how much freedom that gives you?

You can write, and you can write bad on purpose! No literary agent’s going to shoot your draft down. You can improve it in your own time.

Learn a new language, not because it’ll lead you to a job promotion, but because you want to!

Play a musical instrument. A piano, a guitar. You’ll never be Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham, but who cares? In a month or two, you’ll learn most of the basic chords on a guitar and will be able to strum to your heart’s delight to all the hits, new and old!

Learn technology for the sake of learning, not because it’s a requirement for your career. You wanna know something funny? The whole social construct of having to timidly ask a teacher a question and then get shot down after asking one too many questions—it does not exist anymore thanks to AI and how non-judgmental and accommodating a teacher it can be. There’s nothing daunting about it. No Skynet, no Terminator. Just a chat terminal where you can talk to ChatGPT and have it answer any and all the questions you’ve ever had.

Make art solely for the sake of artistic expression, and since it’s a subjective discipline, all art is artistic expression.

Did you miss out on chess in your youth? Sudoku? Jenga? Now’s the time to play those games.

And speaking of games, do give videogames a try, because they’ve come so far in terms of accessibility and narrative strength and graphics, that it’s almost like watching a movie or a TV show. All sorts of old stuff from back in the 60s and 70s is being remade for the modern generation, and there’s no rule that says that OG’s cannot enjoy that. Remember those tabletop Dungeons and Dragons games that sparked the whole Satanic Panic back in the 70s and 80s? Yeah, they’ve gone mainstream now in the form of games like Baldur’s Gate! Modern videogames are an excellent combination of social and cognitive workouts.

And if you want to be more productive, there are literal thousands of courses to choose from on sites like Udemy, Coursera, and edX, covering everything under the sun from history to cooking. No classroom required.

Everything that I’ve stated in this section serves to sharpen the mind, challenge your problem-solving skills, and forces your brain to expand, grow, and adapt to this new information.

Keep your Mind and Body in Sync: Learn, Move, and Thrive

Learning is about balance, staying active, and movement as much as it is about picking up new skills. The brain and the body work together, and from my experience, the best way to keep them both in shape is through mindful movement.

How about learning yoga? Or Tai Chi? Or working with resistance bands? All of these disciplines help you stay strong, flexible, and physically active while also giving your mind the mental workout it needs.

Why not challenge your body while sharpening your mind? I’ve got just the books for you to do that. Check out my Balance and Strength Collection by clicking here. 

On the note of learning, I will leave you with the University of Chicago’s motto, which goes, “Crescat scientia, vita excolatur,” which is Latin for, “Let knowledge grow, let life be enriched.”