Friday, May 20, 2016

Seven ways to improve your IQ

Seven ways to improve your IQ

Your brain it out of season. That’s the findings of a new study from the University of Liege in Belgium which found that although your grey cells find it easier to sustain attention the summer months, your brain activity actually slows in the colder months. So should you batten down the hatch until the sun comes out? Of course not. You just need the MH guide.
Your Intelligence Quotient (IQ) is a measure of your mental agility or comprehension speed. The average IQ for a 32-year old British man is 100, and while experts believe this is increasing by 3% a decade, you can fast-track yours right now and go from Fury to Feynman by motivating your melon. We’ve consulted leading psychologists to provide seven simple steps to improve your IQ by a not-to-be-sniffed-at 17 points over just one week, and help you solve any problem life can throw at you. Except, perhaps, a punch from Klitschko

Monday: play games

Fluid intelligence is a major part of every IQ test, and relates to your working memory. Dr Susanne Jäggi at the University of Michigan used Dual N-Back games, where the player is asked to remember a sequence of geometric shapes and sounds, to boost this factor. Her research discovered 25 minutes every day will raise your IQ by an impressive 4 points.
How to do it Try puzzles at dual-n-back.com/nback.html
It takes 25 minutes
You gain +4 IQ points

Tuesday: take supplements

Ingesting 5g of creatine a day can get your IQ stacked by no less than 15 points over a six-week period. Researchers gave volunteers this dose, testing their ability to spot missing items in grid patterns. “Creatine gave a significant boost to brain power,” says study leader Caroline Rae. It raises the energy levels available for computation in your brain.
How to do it Buy it from healthrack.co.uk (£4 per 1,000mg)
It takes 1 minute
You gain +2 IQ points

Wednesday: be a social gamer

When it comes to improving your brain power, Scrabble is your friend. “Activities which involve a diverse range of skills plus social interaction, are excellent options if you’re aiming to enhance your IQ,” says MENSA’s consultant psychologist Maria Leitner. You can get all the interaction by playing the Scrabble app and playing head to head with a friend every day over WiFi.
How to do it Visit apple.com/uk/itunes (59p)
It takes 50 minutes
You gain +1 IQ point

Thursday: blast some bad guys

A recent study at the University of Rochester, US, confirmed a link between first-person video games  and enhanced visual awareness in the ‘real’ world – a crucial building block for IQ. When having your IQ tested, the ability to take in visual cues accurately at speed is invaluable, explains clinical psychologist Dr Anita Abrams. Yes, playing Call of Duty 4 is good for you.
How to do it Call of Duty: Black Ops (Xbox, £31.99 from amazon.co.uk)
It takes 60 minutes
You gain +2 IQ points

Friday: pull on your trainers

Drop those weights and hit the treadmill if you want to be smarter. A Swedish study proved cardiovascular fitness can raise your verbal intelligence by 50%. “Increased cardiovascular fitness was associated with better cognitive scores,” says Maria Aberg, who led the study. “In contrast, muscular strength was only weakly associated with intelligence.”
How to do it Get some tough cardio routines here.
It takes 20 minutes
You gain +5 IQ points

Saturday: do practice tests

Retaking IQ tests can actually raise your score by as many as two points. The ‘practice effect’ is a proven technique that arms you with the skills to comprehend the next test. “If the interval is very short – for example, a few hours – then examinees are likely to recall the strategies that proved most successful,” says educational psychologist Professor Alan S. Kaufman.
How to do it Visit mensa.org/workout
It takes 30 minutes
You gain +2 IQ points

Sunday: go veggie

Meat eaters look away now. “A number of studies have linked higher IQ with a vegetarian diet,” says Leitner. “Both the lifestyle and nutritional choices of vegetarians are associated with strong intellectual functioning and a slower cognitive decline.” Fixing your diet now could bring back 10 years of your IQ age. And that means more Scrabble wins too.
How to do it For recipe ideas, go to vegweb.com
It takes 10 minutes
You gain +1 IQ point

Total 7-day IQ gain: 17 points

 

Article source__menshealth.com

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