You’re never too old to learn a new skill
It’s true. When you learn a new skill, you not only add an element of excitement to the boredom of your daily routine, you can also keep your brain sharp – at any age! Remember what Henry Ford, the legendary American industrialist and founder of the Ford Motor Company, had said? Anyone who keeps learning stays young.
Scientific research has shown that the best way to keep our brain sharp is to learn a new skill. When we practise learning something new, changes take place in the networks of our brain and the density of white matter too increases. More about this later in the post.
Agreed, it’s easier to learn new things, pick up new skills, when you’re young because that’s when your body keeps building new brain cells. When you’re older, though it’s less easy, it’s not impossible.
Take the case of Brian May. He shot to international fame in the 70s as one of the world’s leading musicians. Choosing to make a career in music instead of as a scientist, he became the lead guitarist for the famed British rock band Queen. But that’s not the point. Brian May was always passionate about astronomy and astrophysics and had a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from London’s Imperial College. In 2006, at the age of 59, guess what he did. He went back to scientific studies and completed a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the same college! How cool is that?
As for those of you who are still not over the hill, remember that if you live long enough, you’ll get there someday. Aging happens to everyone. But that doesn’t mean you have to wait till you cross 60 to learn new things. Develop the habit of lifelong learning now and you could have better mind power than your contemporaries later on.
How you’ll benefit by picking up a new skill
- You’ll enhance your mind power: Let’s say you’ve decided to learn to play the guitar. Not only will you be using the muscles of your fingers and arms, your brain will be figuring out the positioning of your fingers for the different chords, memorizing the chords and the tune, and also paying attention to maintaining a particular rhythm. In other words you’ll be exercising your body and your brain every time you learn something new.
- You’ll maintain a happy frame of mind: When learning something, we tend to become so engrossed in what we’re doing, we lose track of time and even our worries and grouses. The task of learning may tire people out, but it will leave them stress-free and contented and keep their spirits high.
- You’ll stay productively engaged: When you’re younger there were umpteen jobs to be done and very little time to attend to them all. Then you retire from service and find you’re going crazy from boredom, from having so much free time. But decide to learn something new, and suddenly you’ll find you have an invigorating, new purpose in life.
- You’ll appreciate the virtue of humility: Something amazing happens to you when you become a learner. You feel no shame in making mistakes, acknowledging that you’re a novice at something, or unhesitatingly asking your teacher questions. The very act of learning sets you free from being bigheaded or pretentious.
Have fun learning a new skill or craft
Sketching, drawing or painting: Remember how you used to love doodling as a child? Re-discover your creative instincts. Add some colour to your life. Take up a course in sketching or painting.
Sewing: Knowing to sew is such an asset at any age. It can be useful for altering your outfits as you gain or lose weight, stitching clothes for your grand kids, or adding some decorative flourishes to your home. Or how about learning to crochet or knit? Such projects can be extremely satisfying too.
Bead work: Learn to make interesting artifacts or bead jewellery for yourself or your friends and family. I for one, rediscovered my love for this creative craft on a recent trip to Malaysia. Check out the beautiful key chain I made in minutes. Now, guess what my gifts for this 
Christmas are going to be. You guessed it. Beautiful, hand-made key chains!
Music: If you feel learning to play the guitar, piano, bulbul tarang, harmonium, or the cassio could be too challenging for you, how about just getting proper training in singing? Music is something that will not just stimulate your mind, it will lift your soul and fill you with pleasant feelings.
Card games: If you’ve always enjoyed playing ‘Teen Patti’ or ‘Seven Hands’, how about trying your hand at something more challenging? How about learning to play bridge? It’s a game that calls for full concentration. But be warned. It could be so addictive, you won’t want to miss a single session once you join a bridge club. I well remember how as a child I would see seniors who had difficulty even walking with a stick turning up for bridge games at the nearby Matharpacady Club in Mazgaon.
Research shows that learning new skills is good for your brain
Still not convinced that an old dog can learn new tricks? Listen to what the experts and scientists say. Clive A, Wilson, author of “No One Is Too Old to Learn” says adults have the capacity to learn new concepts and sharpen their minds throughout life. He says this is possible, because brain plasticity, that is, the ability to build connections between brain cells, continues to be present even late in life. (It is brain plasticity that helps us acquire new skills.) His book also asserts a possible delay in the onset of Alzheimer’s disease in people who continue to learn.
Around 50% of our brain is made up of white matter called myelin. Scientific studies including the brain scans of skilled musicians using Diffusion MRI have shown that: a) the more time spent in learning or practicing a new skill, the higher the density of myelin in the brain; and b) that myelination accelerates the speed of nerve impulses and strengthens their functioning.
During childhood, myelination occurs in our brain naturally. This process slows down as we age. But by continuing to engage in learning new skills even when we’re older we strengthen the connections between our brain neurons and boost the process of myelination.
In 2013, psychological scientist Denise Park of the University of Texas at Dallas and her team carried out a research project for which they picked 221 adults (ages ranging from 60 to 90). They randomly divided these seniors into three groups for practising a particular activity for 15 hours a week for three months.
One group was made to learn a new challenging skill – either digital photography, quilting or both, the second had to perform mentally-stimulating activities that they routinely engaged in, like listening to classical music and working on crossword puzzles, while the third participated in social activities such as social field trips and entertainment.
At the end of the study, it was found that those who had learned something new showed more improvements in their memory skills than the others. The study showed that just being active is not enough to keep your brain sharp. As Parks puts it, “It is important to get out and do something that is unfamiliar and mentally challenging.” She said, the greatest improvement was found in the people who learned digital photography and Photoshop perhaps because this was the most difficult. Not just that, a few seniors in their eighties belonged to this group.
It’s never too late
No matter if you’re in your 40s, 50s, 60s, or even older, if there’s something you always wanted to learn, but think it’s too late for that now, that’s a load of crap.
Pulitzer Prize Winner Frank McCourt started writing after he retired from teaching. When his internationally acclaimed first book ‘Angela’s Ashes’ was published in 1996, he was 66 years old. When Harlan David Sanders started his brand new business Kentucky Fried Chicken, he was 65. And when my own grandfather bought a ‘Teach yourself Hindi’ book and taught himself to read and speak this language, he was in his sixties. And when my grandmother… OK, I’ll stop the family history here because well, I guess you get the drift.
The bottom line? Learning is a life-enriching experience and it’s not something reserved only for the young. So of it’s your heart’s desire to learn to play tennis, or go scuba diving, or even shake a leg like a salsa dancer, go ahead and just do it. It’s never too late to try anything as long as you have the interest, capacity, and the opportunity.
Cheers!
