The adage “either use it or lose it” applies again and implies that synaptic connections weaken, in the same way that muscles atrophy when you stop playing sports.

The slope of the learning curve is always steeper at the start. Learning Spanish is more difficult at the beginning because, excuse the pun, you are in completely foreign territory. When you become familiar with intonations, vocabulary and grammar, you build a synaptic network infrastructure that supports knowledge.

This is why some people say that learning a new skill means “doing what you don’t want to do”. You just have to remember the era of vinyl records: if the one you were listening to was scratched, you had to get up from the sofa to move the stylus in order to get through the scratch.

New skills keep your brain fit

Learning a new skill is like creating a new path or driving on a snow-covered road in the footsteps of another car. To make your own tracks and go where you want, you have to force on the wheel; by going back to it later, it will be easier to follow the new tracks.

This is how rewiring works: getting out of old habits and creating a new and more positive path, and the more you take it, the easier it is to find it. If you started classes in the past, you should definitely give it a try to learn Spanish Argentina, that you can do easily online if travelling is out of budget. Schools like Expanish offer a great deal with a professional yet super entertaining way.

When the neurons “fire” together, they do it more and more quickly and this improvement allows more precision in the number of neurons necessary to practice a specific skill. For example, when you learn to ski, you use a lot of muscles and neurons at the start.

As you improve, the muscle effort and the number of neurons required decreases.

You can’t say, “I have university degrees, so I have all the cognitive reserve I need.” You have to keep learning to keep it available. A garden must be continually tended by tilling the soil, pulling weeds and watering, otherwise it will turn into fallow land.

Rewiring the brain (neuroplasticity)

Neuroplasticity and generating new neurons (neurogenesis) remains possible throughout life, if you do the right things:

• Neuroplasticity and learning are two sides of the same coin.
• Neuroplasticity works with a slight degree of discomfort
• You must question yourself.
• You can produce new neurons in the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex your whole life.
• Aerobic exercise (which stimulates and improves oxygen consumption by the body) is one of the best ways to develop the brain-derived neurotrophic factor.

What’s the role of physical exercise in brain health?

A Finnish study of 3,403 people found that those who exercised two or three times a week were less depressed, angry or stressed.

Studies over the past twenty years have shown that it would be good to prescribe physical exercise as a support on psychotherapy and medication to treat depression. Thirty minutes three times a week, in the form of a brisk walk or an exercise bike. Patients who continued to exercise during the ten months of follow-up were more successful in preventing symptoms from returning after their depression ended.

Neuronal routes while learning a new language

A multiplication of new connections is created during the learning and memorization phases. And, an automatic sorting is performed, by removing ineffective or unused connections. This whole process helps to change the very structure of our brain.

Consequently, it is what contributes to evolve or regress in an area. This is why a person who has stopped learning, reading, and discovering for years has this feeling of “being rusty”. Indeed, a person loses the alertness and part of knowledge and skills: the neural routes have been suppressed by his brain.

This is the case when you no longer practice a foreign language for a long time. The neural connections are dismantled and we regress in the practice of this language. This is another reason to start practising your Spanish online, keep your brain fit!