Learn New Things Everyday #2: Chapter 2 - Learn Smart by Relaxing

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Step 1: Sleep at Least Eight Hours a Day

Do not underestimate the power of sleep because it ultimately decides how your brain works for the entire day. You restart your computer when it starts to become sluggish. You rest your car when it overheats. You sit idly when your legs feel exhausted. This is the same with your brain.

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The deletion of short-term memories and the storage of long-term memories happen when you are asleep. Not having enough of it leads to having many important data in your brain deleted and the storage process shortened. As a result, recalling becomes harder and memorization takes longer.

Furthermore, brain cells are produced and repaired when you are at complete rest. This is the time when the damaged bridges between nerves are connected once again for a smoother passage of information from your brain's processing region to the storage region.

Step 2: Meditate for 10 Minutes a Day

Stop looking at meditation as a means to merge with the universe's cosmic energy or find a gateway to release your astral body. Paranormal and spiritual teachings aside, meditation is a very basic way to unleash the best function of your brain in a very scientific way. Psychologists say that deep meditation reduces the secretion of the stress hormone cortisol, and instead, increases the secretion of dopamine and serotonin, two feel-good hormones that control mood and other biological functions.

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When you have a positive mood, your brain also works faster because there is no hindrance to the transmission of data from one nerve to another. You definitely need to do this if you are already losing focus because of a lot of things running through your head all at the same time.

Ideally, meditation is done every morning to set the tone for your whole day. However, it can also be used as a means to relax before a tougher challenge at work or school.

Step 3: Listen to Relaxing Music

Relaxing music, especially classical music, has been discovered to increase intelligence quotient, especially among kids. The effect is not caused by some magical melody though. According to experts, music stimulates the brain to release various hormones that aid the brain into thinking clearer and processing information faster, and at the same time, smoothen out the mood to make you more emotionally stable.

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There is an ongoing British study that seeks the connection between music and intelligence. Although the 20-year study is yet to be finished in more than a decade, initial findings already associate fast tempo classical music (like most compositions of Tchaikovsky) to numerical intelligence while slow tempo music (like most compositions of Rachmaninoff) is linked to reasoning and creativity.

Step 4: Practice Yoga

Yoga has a lot of health benefits aside from the spiritual harmony that many people think it is all about. Experts call it the culmination of exercise and relaxation combined because you are able to achieve both without the physical toll.

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When you practice yoga, you are able to enter deeper relaxation through the intense meditation and breathing exercise required. Also at the same time, your body undergoes rigorous training as it is forced to maintain difficult positions, stretching, and balance. Furthermore, the mental concentration needed to achieve all of these is also intense because you have to focus your mind on only one thing with utter disregard of any distractions from the environment.

There are other forms of yoga that allow you to focus more on either the physical or mental aspect without completely sacrificing any. Bikram yoga, a yoga done in a heated room, is still mental but is more physical. Bhramari pranayama, on the other hand, is a type of breathing yoga that is more mental but still requires physical accuracy.