77. Are you challenging your brain?
After formal schooling we rarely sit down and research a topic and take notes to learn something new.
This week is all about me challenging myself. I am looking forward to many years of working on my doll clothes patterns and adding to the pattern archive for paid subscribers. It’s important I look after myself so I can do the things that bring me pleasure like sewing and journaling.
My life is all about challenging myself. I’m not putting my feet up and letting myself slip away. I am stretching myself physically and mentally almost everyday. I want to get the most out of my one life.
🧠 Time for learning something new
There is always time to learn something new. The older we get the harder it is to allocate energy to our brain for learning. Sometimes it is hard enough just to remember where we put our phones down!
The brain uses about 20% of the energy available in our bodies, so without changing anything you are going to be more tired if you work at researching and learning. Our subconscious body workings tend to make us steer clear of activities that use a lot of energy such as learning and exercising.
As a child we were able to spend hours every day filling our brains with interesting things and it was easy to be obsessed with topics like dinosaurs. Now in my 70s I have to be highly interested in a topic to start research and learning and I don’t have the stamina to do it for hours on end. If I let myself get absorbed so I focus for an hour or so on a topic I pay the price later by not wanting to do much else for the rest of the day.
As we age there is a natural decline in metabolic rate and mitochondrial function and gradual reduction of muscle mass so that we have less energy to allocate to our daily tasks.
⛰️ Time and energy allocation is important
As you age you start to feel time running out and you begin to prioritise opportunities and tasks to get the most out of the time you have left. I didn’t think much about having to allocate my precious energy as well.
As a way to increase my energy levels I have been increasing my protein intake and I am now seriously increasing my step count to help use and build muscle and mitochondria. In the last two weeks I have gone from around 10,000 steps to close to 20,000 steps Monday, Wednesday and Friday and before that I was doing round 3,000 steps a day. With a combination of losing fat, losing weight, building muscle and getting some gentle cardio I am hopeful of reducing inflammation, reducing feelings of stress, sleeping better and increasing stamina.
My long term goal is to get fit for doing some multi-day pack free bushwalking next year.
🇦🇺 Australian Federal Parliament
Something that I decided I wanted to know more about was the Cabinet of the Labor Federal Government. I followed the election with great interest but I have only ever known the few main players of each government. I thought it was time to learn something new.
My first exercise was to list and recognise the Labor Government ministry appointments. I have set up a journal and so far I have the beginnings of what looks like a school project. I have details and pictures of about 8 ministers and I look through each day to see if I can recognise them. I have found it really interesting to see what kind of people they are and what they are trying to achieve while in government. Our new Attorney General is Michelle Rowland and she is a wife and mother with a masters in Law (LLM) and years of experience as a solicitor and a director on various boards and time in parliament. She grew up in an ordinary suburb and worked part time to get her law degree (LLB). I wonder how many young girls are aware of her achievements.
I’ve never been to the new Parliament House in Canberra. Something to put on my travel list.
🏛️ No topic is too trivial
The important thing is to focus, memorise and learn. The Google AI overview is:
Learning new things is beneficial for the brain as it stimulates neural connections, enhances cognitive function, and can even improve memory and potentially delay cognitive decline. Engaging in new learning experiences releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward, which can boost mood and motivation. Furthermore, learning can increase mental flexibility, problem-solving skills, and creativity.
Learning takes effort because our brains use so much energy but just consider all those amazing benefits listed above. Puzzles can only take you so far. You have to learn something new to benefit.
I am excited to work on my parliament project.
What are you learning this week?
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Cheers,
Val