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

Plenty of people do NOT lose those skills.

Even more flummoxing is when you see people who are super good at something even though it rarely comes up. I found this in machine shops. The experienced machinists can quickly re-set the probe tool, even though it RARELY ever brakes, like at most twice a year, and it’s IMPOSSIBLE for a normie to do it; you have to spin these two screws for adjust but also tighten them at the right alignment and the spinning run-out can’t be more than one tenth of a thousandth of an inch.
When the hell are these guys managing to practice this ? What the hell? We tried doing it for like 2 hours, next time it broke and the older guy was there he did it in like 5 minutes