Adult Learning Open University Determinants study (ALOUD): Biological lifestyle factors associated with study success

Life expectancies keep rising as our society develops. Changes in our knowledge economy are fast and as a result the value of personal knowledge and experience diminishes at a high rate. This leads to an ongoing demand for employees to develop their knowledge and experience far into adult age. However, the ability to learn decreases over time. Research shows that biological lifestyle factors can possibly influence the ability to learn. Probably, this is partly caused as cognition is a key condition for normal learning and cognition can be influenced by biological lifestyle factors. Three biological lifestyle factors that are associated with learning, study success, academic achievement, and/or cognition are the focus of this study. These biological lifestyle factors are physical activity, sleep, and nutrition. Research into these biological lifestyle factors with regard to study success in adults is lacking. Research so far has focused on primary, secondary, and university education, and is usually targeted on traditional education. The goal of this study is to gain insight in the associations between biological lifestyle factors and study success in adults participating in distance education. A large cross-sectional study will offer more information on how these biological lifestyle factors are associated with study success and cognition. Also, the associations between the biological lifestyle factors and subjective factors (i.e. life satisfaction and health related quality of life) will be evaluated. The goal of this study is to gain insight into the determinants of study success in adult distance learners. Expected is that healthy lifestyles will be positively associated with study success. The results will offer possibilities to develop tailored strategies to enhance study success of students in adult education.