Tuesday's Tip for Language Learning #6: Dealing with Chemicals

 



From Think Yourself into Becoming a Language Learning Super Star

Chemicals

I once had a student who appeared unable to retain anything she was taught. Trying to figure out the cause, I gave her a series of learning styles test, which had odd results. I called her into my office and told her, “Either you answered the questions very strangely, or you have a storm in your head.”

“I have a storm in my head,” she said, which was not the response I expected.

It turns out that she had been given some incorrect prescription medicine that had caused some temporary damage. With her permission, I spoke to her doctor, who told me that the medicine had caused damage to short-term memory that would, over time, dissipate. With some support from the doctor, we were able to move beyond her temporary impairment.

Chemicals can impede language learning, where possible they should be avoided. Here are some chemicals you may not be thinking about:

  • some allergy medications
  • nicotine
  • too much alcohol (though a little can sometimes loosen the tongue -- though it won't help your grammar)
  • exposure to toxic substances
  • mercury (from some kinds of fish)
Here are some things you can do:

  • Talk to your doctor about your medications and their influence on how your brain works, whether there are alternatives to any problem drugs, and whether you can forego the problem drugs.
  • Talk to a learning specialist about how to work around the effects of the chemicals that you must ingest or work around
  • Don't rely on rote memory; it is most affected by allergy medications.
  • Use all your senses: read, write, hear, type, write the same things. This provides your brain with multiple "routes" to learning, and one impaired route will be less damaging.
  • Maintain good brain health by getting adequate sleep, exercising, and eating your daily banana (and other foods that help memory).
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