There are a million (maybe even literally) techniques and methods out there on how to learn faster and retain more knowledge. Many of them are based on improving memorization of information and not necessarily optimizing the actual learning process.
There is definitely a place for all of those, but this post will not go over any of them.
Here you’ll find a list of hacks and general adjustments you can make to your study or learning sessions that will enhance and speed up the innate learning process.
They are all based on what is known about the neuroscience of how human beings learn and what potentiates that learning.
I’ll go through some basics on how to optimize your neurochemistry and set up your environment to best soak up new knowledge (or skills) and make it stick.
What is learning?
To put it in the simplest possible way, learning happens when connections established between our neurons strengthen. Learning literally changes our brain, creating new connections and also erasing old ones.
The brain makes these changes in response to inputs in our environment, creating new connections between neurons and even new neurons (neurogenesis). This process is called plasticity.
Depending on the individual, their circumstances, their inner and outer environment, as well as the nature of the thing they are trying to learn or change, that process will be more or less difficult.
But in the most basic terms everything from new knowledge to new behavior patterns (new habits) is done by rewiring the connections between neurons (neuroplasticity) and creating new ones (neurogenesis).
Are you ever too old to learn something new?
Ab.so.lu.tely not!
Up until the age of 25 (approximately) the brain is incredibly plastic and will almost passively pick up new knowledge without much effort.
After this age you won’t stop learning, but it will require more of an active role on your part, in order to make that happen.
You will simply have to focus more consciously to be able to rewire your nervous system and make those new neural connections.
Why do some people learn faster than others?
There are many factors that go into the learning process and, therefore, that can come together (or not) when trying to learn new information or a new skill.
To make things more complicated, they’re also a combination of internal and external factors.
Internally, things like:
- the right cocktail of neurochemicals that will allow you to focus your attention on any given task long enough to be able to perform a particular set of actions, or make sense of new information.
- the quality of your sleep that not only influences your mood and concentration levels in any given moment, but also the ability of your brain to reinforce and anchor the new neuro-connections during sleep (that were made during your learning periods in the daytime).
- proper hydration levels and nutrition – the basic fuel for all biological processes
Externally, things like:
- the physical learning environment.
- sensory distractions (sounds, smells, visual stimulus, etc.).
And then there are things like the teaching method and how that fits you specifically. Or the actual nature of the thing you’re trying to learn, as it relates to other things you already master and can usually do well.
For instance, if you already speak 2 languages you might already have a head start if you want to learn a third. However, that might not necessarily help you any if you want to learn physics.
Ditto for manual crafts, if you already enjoy and master a few crafts it will probably be easier for you to pick up a few more, as opposed to someone who’s not used to working with their hands.
Previous knowledge, innate preferences for one thing or another, as well as motivation and interest, all play a role in the learning process.
So how to learn faster and better (in a nutshell)
By optimizing both your inner environment (the neurochemicals that trigger neuroplasticity and induce an optimum state for learning) and your external environment (the actual physical space, the distractions and sensory stimuli).
If on top of that you add specific study methods or techniques that really fit you, then you’ll be rolling on all cylinders! It’s a great feeling when you finally find something that works for YOU.
Also, if you’re interested in specific tricks and study methodology, check out Jim Kwik. He teaches people all kinds about effective techniques and hacks, on how to memorize better and improve your memory in general. It’s fascinating stuff and a lot of fun.
But first, let’s get into the specifics of how to hack and leverage your brain chemistry to create the best possible learning outcome!
HOW TO LEARN FASTER AND BETTER (the steps)
How can you optimize your brain chemistry and tweak your external environment to support it for faster learning?
Below is a list of neuroscience-based hacks and tips to speed up and improve your learning outcomes.
1 – Identify and bring attention to the thing you want to learn
This may sound too obvious, but there’s a very good “sciencey” reason for mentioning it.
Whenever you pay close attention to something, you are basically focusing on it. When you focus on something, the brain reacts by releasing two very important neurochemicals: epinephrine and acetylcholine.
Epinephrine increases your alertness and acetylcholine creates a sort of cone of attention that helps to filter out other sensory inputs, helping to put a spotlight on the thing you’re focusing on.
The release of these two neurochemicals open the gate to plasticity in the brain, which is to say to the new neuropathways you will create – what we call “learning”.
They basically mark the connections between the specific neurons, which will be later strengthened and established during sleep. So if you want to create change in the brain, either change a behavior or learn new information or skills, you must be able to really focus your attention on it.
2 – Figure out your “whys”
As mentioned earlier, before the age of 25 neuroplasticity happens very easily and can be massive. After that, and as we age, it will happen more in smaller incremental steps – except if there is an intense incentive for it.
Research has shown that plasticity in the brain can be as fast and massive as a young person’s, provided it’s important enough to us (like having to search for food to be able to eat at all).
How badly you need or want it will define how fast the rate and magnitude of plasticity will be. It explains for instance why you will learn a new language a lot faster if you’re “in the field” and you really need it in order to go about your day.
So once you know WHAT you want to accomplish or learn, try to come up with 2 or 3 very good reasons WHY you want it. This not only helps with motivation overall, but it will also trigger the appropriate neurochemicals (epinephrine, acetylcholine, dopamine) that will enhance the learning outcomes.
3 – Make sure you’re well rested
While the new neurocircuits are highlighted with acetylcholine and dopamine during your study or learning session, it’s in fact during sleep that those circuits will strengthen and be configured.
It’s part two of the learning process, let’s say. This happens mostly during NREM sleep, or deep sleep, so it’s important to make sure you’re getting good quality sleep.
I wrote another post about the differences between REM and NREM sleep, as well as tips and hacks to improve your sleep quality, if you want to check that out.
But basically, as it relates to learning, you need proper sleep not just to feel well rested, alert, and be able to focus your attention on the thing you’re trying to learn (trigger for plasticity), but also in order for that plasticity to actually take root while you sleep.
4 – Take advantage of when you’re most naturally alert
Humans are diurnal creatures. By nature we’re active during the day and we rest/sleep during the night.
We also all follow a circadian rhythm. That’s a 24 hour cycle that regulates when we should be awake and when we should be sleeping.
Now within that, people’s individual rhythm will vary slightly. Some people feel more alert during the early morning hours, others feel more alert in the afternoon, and others seem to prefer to tackle their most changeling work in the evenings.
There are no universally “best” times to study per say – find those times of day when you’re most naturally prone to feel focused, alert and find it easier to concentrate.
These are the best times of day for YOU in which to schedule your learning sessions.
5 – Create an environment for focus
What does that look like? It will depend on the person and the day.
The best environment in which to learn is one that enables you to feel alert, calm but focused. Depending on the person, that might mean more or less light, visual clutter, or the presence or absence of sounds.
Good general rules are:
If you’re feeling too anxious or alert to focus (you have too much energy):
- try to calm your nervous system down by exhaling for longer than inhaling, for a few minutes.
- eliminate stimulus, like music, noises, or visual clutter. If there is too much in your environment to scan, that increases your alertness level. In an already high alert state that might make it impossible for you to focus your attention enough to be able to learn anything.
- Fasted states and low carbohydrate states also lend themselves to alertness, but feeling actively hungry will be distracting. So light meals are better before a learning session.
If, on the other hand, you’re feeling too calm and not very alert:
- try adding some background music or noise to your environment. Since there’ll be more stimulus to scan, your awareness level will go up.
- try inhaling longer than exhaling, which will arouse your nervous system.
- stay away from high carbohydrate foods (high in tryptophan) and large meals, because they will induce drowsiness and make it more difficult for you to focus.
- Hydrate well throughout the day and try some green tea before or during your learning session (it contains some caffeine and it is loaded with antioxidants).
Related content: How To Relieve Stress Quickly (just 2 minutes!)
6 – Increase mental focus by focusing your visual field
Mental focus follows sensory focus.
This means the act of trying to focus on a particular input, using your senses, will trigger the release of those neurotransmitters (epinephrine and acetylcholine) that enhance the cone of attention and jump start plasticity in the brain.
For most people, sight is the primary sense. One trick is to focus in on one point on the screen or book in front of you, or anything in your visual field, and try to hold it for as long as possible.
To increase your visual focus even more, practice blinking less while you do it. Do this at the beginning of your study session or learning bout. It will trigger those neurotransmitters and prime the brain to start making the new neuro-connections that will allow learning to occur.
This works with your other senses as well. If you’re trying to learn a new language for instance, you can try to close your eyes when you’re listening to the audio playing. This is a way of focusing your attention in your auditory field, which will also trigger the same neurotransmitters.
7 – Keep your learning sessions to 90 minutes
The optimum learning bout is the same as an ultradian cycle. Ultradian cycles are repeating 90-minute cycles that make up our circadian rhythm of 24 hours.
They are excellent natural cycles for learning. So in those 90 minutes you would ideally have about 5-10 minutes of warm up and wind down, where you’re preparing for or wrapping up the intense focus period. And you ideally should be able to maintain focus for approximately 1 hour.
This should be 1 hour of intense focus with as little distractions as possible. If you feel agitation or like your mind is drifting, just bring the focus back to what you’re doing – this is training! The quicker you are able to bring that focus back, the better results you’ll get from your learning bout.
Remember, it’s that focused attention that triggers the acetylcholine to be released and allows for neuroplasticity to take place.
Depending on your lifestyle, schedule and other obligations, you might be able to schedule one or more of these 90 minute learning sessions, but ideally you would get between 1 and 3 a day.
8 – Welcome errors in your performance!
Another very important part in the learning process is making errors. That’s more than just a truism.
Whenever there are repeated mismatches between desired outcome and actual performance, it signals the brain that something is not working. The brain recognizes that a change is needed in the circuitry and it’ll send the appropriate neurochemicals to allow for the changes to take place.
So, more epinephrine and acetylcholine to enhance focus, as well as dopamine to accelerate brain plasticity. This will also highlight the pathways for change in the brain circuitry that will be established during sleep.
That means that whenever you reach that point in your learning or study session when you start to make mistakes, instead of walking away, leverage that frustration as motivation to dig deeper. This will only enhance and speed up the neuroplasticity of the brain.
In a 90 minute learning period, while you’re in that 1 hour period of intense focus, get to the moment of making errors and keep making them for 7 to 30 minutes. Repeated errors are what causes the brain to recognize that a change is necessary.
9 – Associate the learning activity to something good
This is another trick related to dopamine release that will speed up learning.
Whenever you’re doing something pleasureful, or you feel you’re on the right path towards a goal, your body floods with dopamine.
This dopamine is a major player in reinforcing the activity that triggered its release in the first place. It’s part of the reward cycles of the body that makes us motivated to do things like sex, eating, child rearing, pursuing goals, etc. It also greatly accelerates brain plasticity.
The good thing about it is that it can be triggered by any activity, as long as you believe it’s good for you – it’s highly subjective! So if you learn to associate something good to any part of the learning process or period, you’ll be fast-forwarding your progress.
For instance, telling yourself (and believing!) that in the learning process making errors is a good thing, will not only make you want to push through the frustration, it will speed up the new neuro-connections that will enable you to learn that new information or skill.
Keeping your desired (provided you really want it) end-goal constantly in mind will also do the trick. Just make it something you really believe is good for you!
10 – Take Non-sleep deep rest activities in between learning sessions
Non-sleep deep rest activities is any activity that will allow the mind to drift and not be focused on anything, or immersed in thought.
It can be things like meditations, any kind of motor activity (physical activity), wordless activities, lying with your eyes closed and just breathing, or even brief naps.
These are great to schedule after an intense learning bout, as they help to accelerate the rate of plasticity.
Like I mentioned before, there is a lot to be said on how to learn faster and better. You can come at it from many different ways in terms of study methods, learning tips, and memorization tricks.
However, trying to apply any of them when your brain or mood is not primed for learning can be an uphill battle.
I hope these tips and hacks will make that process run more smoothly, help you optimize and speed up your learning, and get better results!
Let me know in the comments if you try any of these and how you got on!
