IQ (Intelligence Quotient) is a measure of mental agility and comprehension speeds. Some of the greatest scientists of all time had impressive IQ. In the UK, the average 32-year-old has an IQ of 100. This is thought to be increasing by at least 3% per decade, as human beings evolve to cope with changing environments. The good news for you is that you don’t have to move with this pace. You can fast-track your IQ by following the following simple steps.
- Play Games – fluid intelligence relates to your working memory, and is a crucial part of all IQ tests. By using games where you are required to remember a sequence of sounds or geometric shapes, you can boost your fluid intelligence. Dedicate about 25 minutes to play an appropriate game each day and you can raise your IQ measure by at roughly 4 points. Nowadays, you only need your smartphone to get started. There are tons of apps that are dedicated to enhancing your IQ through games.
- Take Supplements – now, you probably didn’t expect this one on my list. But there’s evidence that ingesting 5g of creatine daily can get your IQ up by up to 15 points over a 6-week duration. Creatine has been known to significantly boost brain power. In tests, scientists administered this supplement and requested participants to spot missing items in grit patterns. They noted that there was an increase in the energy level available for the brain’s computational functions.
- Engage in social games – play Scrabble to improve your brain power. Any activity that entails a diverse range of skills plus social interaction will suffice. Dedicate about 50 minutes to do this at least once each week and you’ll definitely see some increment in your Intelligence Quotient.
- Get some bad guys – there’s a direct link between 1st-person video games and increased visual awareness in the real world. Visual awareness is an IQ building block, and scientists have confirmed that the ability to accurately absorb visual cues at speed is invaluable. So you might want to go right ahead and play Call of Duty 4. This should get your IQ up by at least 2 points, before you even know it.
- Get some training rolling – a Swedish demonstrated that cardiovascular fitness improves your verbal intelligence by up to 50%. There are many other studies that have tied cardiovascular fitness to better cognitive capacity. On the contrary, muscular strength is very weakly tied to intelligence. Carding some cardio routines going one at least 20 minutes every once in a while should get your IQ up by at least 5 points.
- Practice, practice – there’s strong evidence that retaking your IQ tests could raise your score by up to 2 points. Practice helps arm you with the skills you need to tackle the next test. So if you are not happy with what you scored the first time round, load your best IQ test app and get going the second round. You might be surprised to see your IQ score up.
By engaging in these activities, you might be able to upgrade your IQ by up to 17 points in total. Largely, it’s all about focusing on activities that strengthen your mental faculties.