What Inhibits Learning?

by Royce Bailey M.D., M.P.H., F.A.A.C.

-We are learning all our lives and should only stop when we die!

Poor Nutrition Decrease Nerve Membrane Transmissions

Poor Nutrition: Low protein, poor protein, low essential amino acids, low essential fatty acids (like omega-3), high carbohydrate and sugar diets (fast food) decrease nerve membrane transmissions, thus our ability to learn. Your choice of animal or plant protein makes a difference in nerve function. Animal protein is acid forming in the body while plant protein is alkaline forming in the body.

Proteins in our food form albumins which hold water in the blood vessels. If your protein intake is low (not usual in the USA) or incomplete (if you’re missing one of the ten essential amino acids) or of a poor source, not enough albumin is formed and can cause water (plasma) to seep into the surrounding tissues (called 3rd spacing). In the summer heat, I see swollen hands and feet more from lack of a proper diet and water than from heart failure.

Depleting Nerve’s Electrical Function

Inadequate Water Intake: Coffee, tea, chocolate and alcohol all act like diuretics. They inhibit the reabsorption of water in the kidneys, causing more water to be lost in the urine. Fruit juice, soda and diet soda neutralize the water in these drinks, because of their high sugar and salt content, depleting the electrolyte (essential trace minerals) levels in the nerves. As the water in the system is lost causing a salt/water imbalance, optimal electrical current can’t be maintained in the nervous system, thus our learning ability is diminished.

The thirst center (in the hypothalamus) says “I’m thirsty,” so we drink more of the same dehydrating liquids and are more thirsty, ie., cotton mouth, headaches, mood changes. When people are the most dehydrated they have no thirst, because the brain loses its alertness (caused by dehydration, from ignoring the thirst message for so long). So, no wonder we can’t think!

Limiting Frontal Lobe Processing

Stun Guns To Our Frontal Lobes: Our brains are so finely coordinated that any stressor can compete for or inhibit our ability to process and learn.

A. Competitive sports decreases the ability to learn, by overwhelming the limbic system. The limbic system allows emotional/cognitive processing. This then shuts down the frontal lobe. Our judgment/reason center. “Stress of any kind may impair the immune function. Intense, vigorous, competitive exercise depresses both cell-mediated and antibody-mediated immunity. This type of immune suppression is also seen with exercising to exhaustion or overtraining.” J Clin Lab Immun 1989;30:169-173.

B. TV, computer and video games decrease your imaginative development, interactive communications, learning through movement and creative play. These diminish frontal lobe function and cause “Ocular Lock” or staring and dissociative hearing (there is no connection between words and pictures). This is what my mother calls “being glued to the boob-tube.” Watching the screen causes the ability to process to be stopped by overstimulation. As a defense, the brain switches into a lower alpha brain wave activity, where active thought and reasoning can’t occur.

C. Learning can be stunted by many stressors in a child’s or adult’s life. Why do some people keep making bad choices? Unrealistic social, authoritative or parental expectations can cause us to fail to have a safe emotional commitment in the goals for our life; which leads to learned helplessness and life-long underachieving.

Retarded Learning

Medical/Social/Mental: Sleep disorders, lack of exercise, infections (especially inner ear infections), abuse or family violence, can retard learning. I know you know of someone who despite their best efforts continues to make repeatedly ill-advised choices in life. They have habitual "learned" stressors in their life that shut off their higher learning centers and they basically stay in a “survival mode” all their life.

We Can Rewire Our Brains

We Can Remodel Our Brain, not only the neural hardwire but our integrative pathways. We can re-grow, re-learn and re-organize our whole life with God’s help, thus enhancing our relationship with Him and our learning ability through Him.

"Those who put their trust in Christ are not to be enslaved by any hereditary or cultivated habit or tendency. Instead of being held in bondage to the lower nature, they are to rule every appetite and passion. god has not left us to battle with evil in our own finite strength. Whatever may be our inherited or cultivated tendencies to wrong, we can overcome through the power that He is ready to impart." White,E.,G., Counsels On Health:440.

References:

Hannaford,C.,"Smart Moves, Why Learning Is Not All In Your Head," Great Ocean Publishers, Arlington, VA;1995:135,143-144.

Bryant,J.,"Endangered Minds," Jane Healy; 201-202.

Zametkin,A.,J.,"Cerebral Glucose Metabolism In Adults With Hyperactivity Of Childhood Onset," New England Journal Of Medicine, Nov.15, 1990;323:20:1361-1366.