This two weeks, I attempted to take the first course in the www.coursera.org. The name of course is "learning how to learn". In fact, it really changed me a lot in how to learn. here are some tips I get from the course, hope these tips can help you too!

The first tip is that good sleep will help you learn more quickly and better. When I was in the university and busy preparing the test, I thought sleep was totally waste time. I always slept no more than 5 hours to get more time for the test. In fact, the result was not very good. Why?

From the course, I know, good sleep help you learn.

Firstly, when you fall into sleep, your brain cells will shrink. The space between the cells will increase and fluid can wash away the toxins out. When you enter into a test with good sleep, you will feel much better because all the toxins will not affect your brain.

Secondly, your brain can get new ideas during the sleep. There are two modes which our brains work, one is focus mode, and another is diffuse mode. Your brain will use the focus mode when you concentrate to solve some question or try to understand something. Diffuse mode is a more relaxed thinking style, it will use most of brain to think. So some strange ideas will appear will your brain is in the diffuse mode. For example, when you relax and your brain work in the diffuse mode, you will see a large swamp, it is your brain. With the neurons try to connect together, many colorful bubbles will rise slowly from the surface of the swamp. If you can get these beautiful bubbles before they burst in the air, you will get the fantastic ideas from your own brain. That is why Edison must try to write down all his ideas when his snap was broken by the dropping ball.

Thirdly, your brain will continue to learn during your sleep. If you want to remember something important or figure out some tough problem, try it in the dream! When you think about these just before your sleep, your brain will go over it again and again with the diffuse mode.

So, it is time to have a good sleep, your brain will give you a surprise tomorrow morning. Never miss those beautiful bubbles!