If you keep learning throughout your life you will not only be a better person you will be a happier one.

Keep learning

Try something new. Rediscover an old interest. Sign up for that course. Take on a different responsibility at work. Fix a bike. Learn to play an instrument or how to cook your favourite food. Set a challenge you will enjoy achieving. Learning new things will make you more confident as well as being fun.

The benefits of continued learning include:

Increased mental function

You’ll improve your memory and your ability to learn. Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change and create new neural pathways throughout a lifetime. To maintain and build neuroplasticity you need to keep using and challenging your brain.

Improved health

Research shows that people who have a greater sense of purpose and personal growth have lower cortisol levels, an improved immune system and sleep better.

Alleviate boredom

Boredom can lead to self-destruction, overeating, drinking too much alcohol, watching too much TV, negative feelings like hopelessness, etc. Learning provides an alternative to focus your attention on something that is positive and worthwhile.

Improved Self-Esteem and Self-Confidence

Learning is its own intrinsic reward. The immediate feedback it provides increases self-confidence which in turn motivates you to learn more.

Be a better parent, mentor and guide

Using and sharing your new knowledge will make you a better guide.

Increased Happiness

Happiness can be a fleeting feeling, but the more you experience it the more you’ll feel it and the more you feel it, the more you’ll take actions that lead to a more fulfilling life.

Education

Like many human endeavours, certain people make big business out of education, especially vocational education, which has grown significantly in the past fifty years. While there are many excellent but expensive courses you can do, there are many cheap or even free classes. For instance, they might be night courses at a local school or a community centre.

Save the planet

You can use what you learn to help yourself and your family as well as others and the whole planet. Many community classes will save you money by teaching you self-sufficiency and well-being. By learning self-sufficiency you can reduce your ecological footprint. In the low-carbon world of the future there will be many skills that will help you sustain yourself such as:

• Growing vegetables
• Home maintenance
• Weaving
• Woodwork
• Pottery
• Knitting
• Sewing
• Food preserving

You can also learn about things like the weather, the stars, local flora and fauna, and local history.

Doing classes also provides people with opportunities for social interaction, networking, collaboration and sharing, all of which benefit society’s health in general.

There are thousands of books, internet sites and free videos online that can teach you anything you might like to know. Anything you learn about anything will make you feel better, and it will make you a better person.