Be (even) smarter: 7 hobbies that, according to scientists, make us more intelligent

Playing a musical instrument

Playing music helps with creativity, analytical skills, language, math, fine motor skills and the list goes on. These are great benefits that some people claim we can gain also by playing team sports. The main benefit of playing a musical instrument is said to be that it strengthens the corpus callosum, which connects the hemispheres of the brain by creating new connections. An improved corpus callosum can help in leadership skills, memory, problem solving and general brain function, no matter how old we are.

Reading

The benefits of reading are the same whether we enjoy reading Harry Potter or the latest edition of the Wall Steet Journal. Reading is said to reduce stress, making us feel better while increasing three types of intelligence – crystallized, fluid and emotional intelligence. That helps in solving problems, apply prior knowledge to everyday problems, discover patterns, understand processes and accurately interpret and respond to other people's emotions. In the workplace, this means a better understanding of how to move things forward, and better management skills.

Learning a new language

Research has shown that people who are at least bilingual better at solving puzzles than people who speak only one language. Successfully learning new languages allows our brain to be better prepared for mentally demanding tasks. This includes typical executive skills as well as planning and problem solving. Knowing at least two languages also has a positive effect on our ability to monitor the environment and to better focus our attention on processes.

Meditation

It was in 1992 The Dalai Lama asked scientist Richard Davidson to study his brain waves during meditation. This was to see if he could generate special brain waves on command. It turns out that during compassion-focused meditation, the brain waves are directed toward a highly compassionate state. The results of the entire research were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2004 and then in the Wall Street Journal, where the research received a lot of attention. Meditation has become interesting for ambitious people because a study has shown that it can we control our brain waves and feel whatever we want, whenever we want. This means that we can feel stronger before various negotiations, more confident when asking for a raise and more convincing when we want to sell something.

Regular recreation

Occasional recreation is not enough. Regular recreation is much more effective. When performing this, our cells are flooded with the neurotropic factor BDNF, a protein that it helps with memory, learning, focus and understanding. This is often called mental acuity. Some scientists hypothesize that, on the other hand, sitting for too long hinders our brains from working as well as they could.

Let's test our cumulative learning

Many intelligent students "goof off" in high school or college. But the material learned in this way is very quickly forgotten, as it is rarely repeated in the same form. One of the reasons why, for example, learning a new language makes us smarter is surely that it requires cumulative learning (the learning process does not stop and is upgraded). As we use it over and over again, the grammar and vocabulary are repeated countless times – improving our knowledge of the foreign language. We apply the concept of cumulative learning in our daily lives and in our workplace by keeping track of the noteworthy bits of knowledge we acquire. Let's watch carefully or else we keep a little journal with whatever catches our attention.

We exercise our brains

Soduku, jigsaw puzzles, puzzles, board games, video games, card games, and similar activities increase neuroplasticity (the brain's lifelong ability to rewire neural pathways based on new experiences). This involves many changes in neural pathways and synapses, which is essentially the brain's ability to reorganize itself. When nerve cells respond in new ways, this increases neuroplasticity, which in turn enables greater ability to see things from different angles and understand the cause and effect of behavior and emotions. We become aware of new patterns and our cognitive abilities improve. People with high neuroplasticity are said to be less prone to anxiety and depression, and at the same time they are said to learn faster and remember more.

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