5 POPULAR HOBBIES THAT DRASTICALLY IMPROVE YOUR INTELLIGENCE
It seems that science is continually finding new and exciting ways that we can exceed our own expectations and potential. For example, it turns out that your intelligence isn’t just some static IQ number that you’re stuck with forever. On the contrary, you can improve your brainpower much the same way that you can work out a muscle and make it stronger!
One great and enjoyable way to up your smarts, it seems, is to take up a hobby. You know you’ve got a bit of spare time on your hands to invest into something that you’ve always wanted to do, so here are five activities you can take up in order to pump up the muscle in your head.
Read.
There seems to be an inexhaustible list of ways that reading is good for you, from gaining more knowledge to reducing stress to just dipping out from the real world for a short time. Well, it turns out that reading makes you smarter too.
There seem to be three areas of your brain that improve with reading: crystallized intelligence, which helps you get around in the world (like riding a bike); emotional intelligence, which allows you to get in touch with your own feelings and interpret others’; and fluid intelligence, which assists in your problem-solving skills, see patterns, and come to a generalized understanding of the world.
Learn To Speak A Different Language.
So, you’ve always wanted to travel abroad, but there’s one thing that always makes you hesitate a little bit: the language barrier. Well, there’s another reason to learn a new language.
According to research, those who speak multiple languages have better attention spans, can solve puzzles more easily, and are more adept at planning and problem solving.
Also, speaking more than one language seems to heighten your awareness of your surroundings.
Of course, there’s no substitute for immersing yourself in a community who speaks your preferred foreign language. However, most of us cannot do this. Thankfully, there are free resources at your disposal.
Learn To Play An Instrument.
By picking up a new instrument, you’ll be adding around 7 points to that IQ score, according to research. The parts of the brain that grow as a result of learning an instrument, such as those that control motor skills and hearing, also help you improve your emotional awareness, alertness, and planning ability.
Psychologist Lutz Jäncke told the Telegraph: “…not only does this make it easier to pick up other languages and have a better verbal memory in your own language, we have also seen that musicians are able to pick out exactly what others are feeling just on the tone of their voices.”
Jäncke added that the implications for the aging brain were particularly profound. ”We found that even in people over the age of 65 after four or five months of playing a instrument for an hour a week there were strong changes in the brain,” he said.
Exercise.
Most of us realize that exercise is the key to better health and longevity. But what about our mental states?
The Huffington Post reported that, in 60% of the population, exercise helped express a gene that releases a protein (brain derived neurotrophic factor or BDNF) thought to help with memory, learning and mental acuity.
Also, exercise makes the blood pump faster, flooding our brains with more oxygen. This also helps us with our mental sharpness.
While the science behind exercise and brainpower is still being explored, it should be obvious to anyone who exercises regularly that moving our bodies is good for our overall well-being.
Write.
The Huffington Post strikes again with this piece on writing and mental improvement. Here’s the caveat, though: writing by hand has been shown to engage your cognitive, visual, and motor skills, and also forces us to think more carefully.
Simply put, writing with one hand takes more brainpower than typing with two. However, by writing at all we become more articulate verbally and enhance our vocabularies.
When writing, it seems important to be comfortable and focused in order to produce to your absolute best ability.
This will enhance the stress-reducing nature of the writing process. Finally, perhaps you don’t know what to write about. It’s often been said that the best writers write about what they know, so start there!
Source:http://thespiritscience.net/2015/11/13/5-popular-hobbies-that-drastically-improve-your-intelligence/
Well I have 4 out of five! I only have to learn to play an instrument hehe! We' ll see maybe one day. Piano always looked very nice to me to learn to play! Too bad I can't sing!
I love to read, I speak 5 languages, writing on paper I have to improve, I ride with the bike everyday and try to talk the stairs more.
So try it also!
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