How many generations of students have always wondered why humans invented math? And if the math just stopped at the multiplication table, how wonderful. Here again, integrals, derivatives, primitives, spatial geometry… all look like a matrix with only input but no exit.
Oh don’t misunderstand! Math has always been a useful subject, the foundation for many other important sciences. Unfortunately, learning math is so difficult, thinking about it can’t be solved, so few students like math?
But do you know what the problem is? It’s that you don’t know how to conquer math. Barbara Oakley – professor at McMaster University, and lecturer of the famous course “Learning how to learn” , how to conquer difficult subjects – whether math or physics – is encapsulated in just 2 words.
That is going to sleep. And the story is that you have to know how to sleep!
Why is sleep important?
This is basically it. When you are awake, even if you do not study, read, do nothing, your brain still has to work. That process creates a cascade of toxic waste that clogs the flow of information between cells, and makes you think less coherently.
The brain therefore must have a mechanism to remove that residue, and that is sleep. During sleep, brain cells contract, creating gaps. As a result, the blood can circulate more easily, carrying toxins out. The brain is then “cleaner” and “healthier” .
When you study and work with a brain full of toxins, it is like trying to start a car with sand in the gas tank. You can run for a while, but then the carriage will slow down, forcing you to rinse the tank, or change the tank.
The brain can’t be changed, so it can only go to sleep.
The benefits of sleep do not stop at detoxification. Sleep is also an important component in the process of memory and learning. The problem is how to sleep to study easier.
When you feel tired, go to sleep immediately, don’t try to read any more story books.
When you sleep, the brain removes less important information, reinforcing the amount of information that the brain thinks needs to be remembered.
With information that takes a long time to learn, to think, the brain will also repeat that information many times during sleep, to help them remember longer.
The problem is how to put the information that needs to be remembered and learned into the area that needs to be reinforced? Kinda easy! What you need to do is push your focus to the highest level as you learn to avoid wandering thoughts, says Dr. Oakley.
It is best to throw the phone, the story book to a corner where it can’t be seen anymore. Then when you feel tired, go to sleep immediately, don’t try to read any more story books. It’s a way of forcing the brain to believe that it is important information to remember, and you will be surprised at how much knowledge it remembers after waking up.
In addition, during sleep, brain cells are also released, making it easier for them to exchange information when waking up. That means you will think more clearly, solving problems that were not possible before.
Let’s see if you are afraid of math. To see if math is still scary?