Boost Your IQ Fast: 5 Proven Habits to Sharpen Your Mind and Intelligence
5 Science-Backed Strategies to Improve Your IQ and Cognitive Abilities
Whereas once IQ was regarded as a fixed personality, innate outcome of genetics, current research has shown that intelligence is modifiable through certain lifestyle practices. These five strategies are science-backed ways to raise your brainpower over time.
1. Exercise Your Working Memory
Your working memory is a mental scratchpad: it holds information temporarily and works to process it. It does so across many tasks – think of solving problems or piecing together complex ideas, for example.
And, in fact, it is central to fluid intelligence, an element of IQ. The good news is that working memory can be trained, and the ability to do so increases your intellectual abilities.
One of the most challenging and helpful exercises for working memory is to simultaneously memorize both a series of orally presented letters and a series of locations. In 2008, a four-week study was conducted that had individuals practice a dual n-back task for 25 minutes daily; it found that fluid intelligence increased dramatically in those individuals who participated in working memory training compared with the controls.
Other studies confirm the original outcome, establishing an advantage of working memory training for enhancing IQ.
To exercise your working memory, you should aim to do 20-30 minutes of practice, 3-5 times a week. And there are thousands of apps, online platforms, and resources where you can begin with exercises, including the dual n-back task. It’s all about consistency and pushing your brain on a regular basis.
2. Learn a New Language
Probably the best way to enhance your cognitive functions is by becoming multilingual. New language learning stimulates numerous regions in the brain and is known to improve brainpower.
The second language learned increases the density of Gray matter-those tiny bundles of tissue in the brain involved in information processing-and improves executive function, working memory, and problem-solving abilities.
Becoming fluent is not required to see the benefits of learning a language. For instance, introductory courses or even regular practice through language apps can stimulate your brain and improve your intelligence. What matters most, however, is maintaining steady, regular practice over time.
3. Practice Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness meditation is often associated with stress reduction and improved emotional balance but can profoundly affect cognitive abilities. It makes the brain stronger in both attention and working memory; trains the person on how to focus on the current moment.
In one experiment, participants who received only two weeks of mindfulness training improved their performance on reading comprehension, working memory, and decreased mind-wandering, especially in the context of standardized tests like the GRE.
Other experiments suggest that long-term meditation increases the thickness of brain regions involved in attention and sensory processing.
Include the mind in your daily routine with 5-10 minutes of daily meditation, and gradually increase to suitable periods. To help you keep going, guided mediation practices are easily accessible through apps like Headspace and Calm.
4. Lifelong Learning
Formal education is one of the best-established ways to increase an individual’s IQ. According to research, each extra year of school increases IQ by 1-5 points on average. The cognitive benefits do not stop with childhood but extend even into adulthood.
Even if full-time schooling is not feasible, there are many other ways to continue learning. Consider an online course, a workshop, or a book club or professional development group. Continuously challenging your mind with new information and skills will bring long-term improvements in cognitive function.
5. Exercise Regularly
The more potent aids people can use are those concerning exercise in helping to enhance cognition. Executive functions in terms of attention, planning, and problem solving have also been improved through aerobic exercise.
Exercise improves blood flow to the brain, stimulates the production of new neurons, and strengthens connections between the brain cells-all of these factors advance better performance on a physiological level.
For maximum cognitive benefits, one should at least have 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise a week, like brisk walking, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity like jogging, swimming, or dancing.
The act can be achieved more easily if it is an activity you like. Exercise, besides all that wonderful effect on body health, makes the brain stronger to improve your memory and IQ.
Conclusion
It’s not so much in our DNA; it’s an acquired way of life that challenges and strengthens your brain. The ways to tap into the ability to maximize one’s cognitive potential involve active training methods involving working memory, new language acquisition, mindfulness practice, lifelong learning, and proper exercise.
You take one or two then gradually progress through the rest of them for continuous, monumental change.
