How learning affects physical and mental health

At the end of 2021, the International Labor Organization promoted the skill of lifelong learning to increase employee productivity and their ability to change their field of work if needed quickly.

Students, especially those who work while studying, often suffer from a high overload of tasks. It is difficult to feel satisfied with learning in such situations because it looks more like torture. In such cases, you can contact your tutor for help, or buy coursework online, so that you have more time for leisure. However, it is possible and necessary to get satisfaction from studying.

Read how the habit of lifelong learning affects physical and mental health.

COVID-19 pandemic gave an additional impulse to developing online education, which has been actively growing during the last 15 years. The possibility to study from home at any time convenient for a person became a real chance to continue learning during his life no matter where and how he lives. On technological educational platforms, such as FutureLearn, Coursera it is possible to choose a course on any subject (from a foreign language or culture to programming in any popular language). Moreover, many of the world’s leading universities allow people to complete their online programs by giving them access to accredited university courses.

However, everyone is familiar with the situation when they have been planning for years to finally learn Spanish or English or finish the online courses they signed up for early last year. There are many more temptations to put learning on the back burner, so here’s a selection of studies that show the positive effects of life-long learning on a person’s physical and mental health.

Learning positively affects self-esteem and social integration

In 2004, the Oxford Review of Education published research on the effects of life-long learning on a person’s emotional well-being and mental health. Researchers conducted in-depth biographical interviews with 145 adults on the impacts of ongoing education on their perceptions of well-being, security, and recovery from psychological problems. The researchers found that lifelong learning allowed developing psychological qualities such as self-esteem, self-efficacy, goals, and hopes. In addition, people who continued learning at a more advanced age found it easier to integrate into a new community if they changed jobs or places of residence. Those who didn’t stop learning were more likely to overcome mental illnesses such as depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.

Learning helps maintain brain health

Continued learning is good for our brains as it keeps brain cells functioning at optimal levels. It limits age-related cognitive and memory decline. It is possible to learn anything in any form: brain health will be maintained as long as a person knows new skills or gains new knowledge. For example, learning to play a musical instrument can compensate for cognitive decline in older age.

Learning helps delay Alzheimer’s symptoms somewhat while maintaining an acceptable quality of life for patients and helps significantly improve memory.

Learning extends longevity

There is a correlation between longevity and level of education, but it isn’t easy to establish a causal relationship. There is a possibility that people in the U.S. are more likely to be educated in the middle and upper classes who have better-eating habits and access to health care. In 2007, the National Bureau of Economic Research published a study showing that each year of formal education can increase a person’s life expectancy by more than six months.

Education can help us feel happy

Lifelong learning not only increases the likelihood that a person will feel content, but it can also improve their emotional balance and help avoid depression. For the elderly, this is especially helpful since depression often comes with the years. People who attend university programs for the elderly feel happier and less lonely because they can socialize with like-minded people while learning something new.

It is possible to observe the nervousness of health level and, as a result, the longevity of life in different countries, even in the most developed ones. Just the gap may not be so significant. Health and education are interconnected: to take care of their health and well-being, you need knowledge, skills, attitude, and behavior that evolve progressively throughout life. The health of our society depends on learning throughout life. Training makes people more confident in themselves more effective, and they learn to understand their abilities and skills, which increases their ability to manage their own lives and health. Adult education courses provide the opportunity to bring people together and thereby foster their social networks, which is crucial to a healthy way of living. This is not only an outstanding contribution to their personal development and fulfillment in life but also a positive influence on their enjoyment of their work.

Adult education is not only a complementary method of developing knowledge, it also actively influences the enhancement of capabilities and mental health. Education for adults – a way, that allows people to live a more fulfilling and happy life, and in this way, as the research shows, to feel more healthy.