Lifelong Learning is
A Lifelong Adventure

Lifelong learning is a form of fitness. Just as healthy bodies are enhanced by physical fitness, keeping mentally fit has a lot to do with exercising the mind.

In addition to physical exercise, good nutrition, getting enough rest and managing stress, exercising your mind–throughout all stages of life–can help condition your brain for long-term mental wellness.

Give Your Mind a Workout.

Mental gymnastics, or exercises that challenge the mind, are important in later life. Research suggests that in a healthy brain, mental stimulation generates new connections among nerve cells throughout life. These connections enhance the brain’s "information–processing" networks. Reading, listening to music, doing crossword puzzles and talking to people who challenge you to think can lead to greater mental alertness and, in turn, greater independence in later life.

Some medical conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, are not part of the normal aging process and are not currently preventable or reversible. Research on Alzheimer’s disease is making important strides as scientists continue to explore factors that may contribute to the disease and measures that may delay the symptoms, including medication and a healthy lifestyle.

While a number of factors, like family history and genes, may predispose us to developing Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, research suggests that we may have some control over risk factors. There is evidence that conditions such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure–factors that contribute to strokes and heart disease–may also increase the risk for some types of dementia.

Lifelong learning is an attitude. It is the recognition that one can and should be open to new ideas, decisions, skills or behaviors. Lifelong learning throws the axiom "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" out the door.

A lifelong learning framework encompasses learning from birth to grave and in different learning environments, formal, non-formal and informal. Lifelong education is often accomplished through distance learning or e-learning, continuing education, homeschooling or correspondence courses. It also includes postgraduate programs for those who want to improve their qualification, bring their skills up to date or retrain for a new line of work.

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