Brain Hack: 6 secrets to learning faster, backed by neuroscience | Lila Landowski | TEDxHobart

• Learning requires an alert, engaged brain—driven by activation of the sympathetic nervous system.
• Tactical Boosters:

1. Short bursts of exercise.
2. Wim Hof breathing.
3. Cold showers.
4. Caffeine (moderately and strategically).

• Alertness follows a 90-minute ultradian rhythm with 8–30 minutes of peak alertness.
• Avoid learning post-meals or during dips in alertness.

• Sleep resets the immune system, metabolism, emotional control, and brain detox.
• It is critical for memory consolidation:

1. Short-term memories (hippocampus) are transferred to long-term storage (cortex).

• Before learning: Sleep enhances alertness and encoding.
• After learning: Sleep is essential for memory stabilization.

• One exposure is not enough; the brain needs multiple inputs to prioritize learning.
• Repetition signals importance at the cellular level, triggering investment in neural architecture.
• Best Practices:

1. Repeat learning tasks multiple times in a session.
2. Use spaced repetition across days.
3. Emotional salience (fear, joy, surprise) can trigger "one-trial learning."

• Post-learning breaks facilitate subconscious memory replay at up to 20x speed.
• Breaks prevent retrograde interference, where new learning disrupts old memories.
• Recommendations:

1. 10–20 minutes of quiet downtime (no phones) after learning.
2. Wait at least one hour before learning something similar.

• Errors trigger release of acetylcholine, sharpening focus and opening neuroplastic windows.
• Mistakes also release dopamine upon correction, reinforcing the right action.
• Learning Design Strategies:

1. Set up controlled failure (e.g., self-quizzes, harder tasks).
2. Lean into anxiety—it’s your brain signaling growth.
3. Avoid walking away after mistakes; re-engage to embed the lesson.

By understanding how your brain learns, you can architect your environment, schedule, and habits to unlock your full cognitive potential.

The six learning levers—attention, alertness, sleep, repetition, breaks, and mistakes—are not just tactics; they are biologically optimized tools for sustainable, high-performance learning.