eli5 why do we “forget” long practiced skills after a period of time of not using said skills? and how can we regain those skills

Question

i noticed that after the holidays my math plummeted and teachers told me its because of the break i took… why does this happen and how can i regain those skills acquired prior to the break

In: 356

Answer 1

Practice in your down time. You have all of the knowledge stored away, but because you had not done it in so long, your brain forgot the order in which certain things had to happen for the skill.

For example, I’m 24, havent done any real algebra since my junior year of High School, about 7 years ago. I was helping my fiance who was working on some low level algebra for college, and everything just looked like a mess. So I googled it, looked at an example or two, found a practice problem or 2, and it all came back to me. For that specific type of problem, anyways.

It takes practice to develop any skill, and the more practice you dedicate to the skill, the more you will be able to do it. Like muscle memory when writing or walking or cooking, the more you use the knowledge, they better you will end up at it