May 8, 2019
For many years, people have believed that you are as smart as you are, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Wrong! Not only are you able to make yourself smarter, you can have fun doing it. Here are 8 hobbies that Science has proven to make you more intelligent.
1. Photography
In photography, you combine different elements like light, exposure, and effects to click a perfect picture, which requires a lot of focus and concentration. This boosts your brain activity and helps you solve puzzles easily.
2. Gardening
When gardening, you get in contact with a soil bacteria that triggers the release of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is a happy chemical that makes you feel cheerful and boosts your learning skills.
3. Learning Music
A 2007 study by Stanford University found that our brains naturally look for patterns to follow to overcome chaos, and music helps us do this. Listening to and playing music makes you smarter, happier, healthier and productive.
4. Reading Literature
We know reading books is good for the brain. But by “deep reading” (like reading novels, poems and other literature works), you take your brain activity to the next level by gaining intellectual and emotional stability.
5. Language Learning
Speaking multiple languages improves your leadership, planning and problem-solving skills. You analyse new grammar structures and learn new words which enhances your creativity and intelligence.
6. Exercising Regularly
Have you heard of the protein called BDNF? It helps with boosting memory, learning, concentration, and understanding. And when you exercise regularly, your cells are flooded with BDNF!
7. Quizzes
Quizzes don’t just improve your brain activity but also helps in getting to know yourself. From memory games, personality or language tests, to subject-focused quizzes like Math or Science, there are numerous online quizzes available, and something for everyone.
8. Meditation
In 1992, the neuroscientist Richard Davidson did a study on the Dalai Lama and other monks. He found that the brain waves of monks (who’d spent 34,000 hours meditating) were in a deeply compassionate state of mind and they could control their brain activity.
