Can something you do for fun actually make you smarter?
Well, it turns out that your favorite hobby may have benefits other than passing the time.
According to scientific research, the more you use your brain, introducing it to new stimuli, it gets stronger — not unlike your muscles. When you challenge your brain, your gray matter increases, raising your IQ.
Amazing, isn’t it?
The following list of hobbies is just a sampling of what’s out there to stimulate your brain, so if you’re looking to sharpen your faculties, you’ll want to read on (but don’t expect marathon Netflix binges to be on the list!).
1. Swap prime time for game time
You may have heard from your grandparents long ago that playing chess or having a Scrabble battle would make you more intelligent. They were absolutely right. Crossword puzzles and other stimulating games develop your neuroplasticity, refining your brainpower.
Think of your brain as you think of your body; you have to keep it active and fine-tuned in order for it to perform at its best potential. So dive into the Sudoku, Monopoly, and even visual puzzles.
They’ll keep you entertained, and even make you feel smarter the better you get.
2. Join a club
You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. - Jim Rohn Click To TweetIt may seem like a no-brainer that reading would increase your intelligence. After all, you’re spending an extended period of time concentrating, learning new words and facts, as well as using your imagination to envision the plot unraveling.
But what if you could bring your reading experience to a whole new level?
It’s been said that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. If you find yourself surrounded by people whom you’re constantly mentoring, you might want to rethink your group of friends. Spend more time with creative, intelligent people who also love to read, and the number of ideas that will be exchanged will amaze you.
Where would these crazy-smart people be lurking?
Book clubs are hubs for individuals constantly looking to expand their horizons and converse about ideas. There really is no better way to improve your intelligence than by immersing yourself in a group of well-read, smart people who will constantly challenge you to push your own limits- fictional or otherwise.
Book clubs are hubs for individuals constantly looking to expand their horizons and converse about ideas. There really is no better way to improve your intelligence than by immersing yourself in a group of well-read, smart people who will constantly challenge you to push your own limits- fictional or otherwise.
3. Learn to play an instrument
Have you ever noticed that musicians have a unique, inexplicable aura of intelligence surrounding them?
Whether you choose to strum the bass like Flea or rock the saxophone like David Bowie, something interesting will happen to your brain when you play a musical instrument. You’ll boost your motor skills, linguistic capabilities, and creativity, but there’s something even more impressive awaiting you.
By playing any musical instrument, you will create new connections between both sides of the brain, strengthening the corpus callosum. No matter if you’re five or 55 years old, improving your corpus callosum is known to aid in problem-solving skills, decision making, and enriching your memory.
4. Join a fantasy football league
It’s been proven that playing sports is stellar for exercising the brain as well as the body. In fact, many of the benefits of playing a musical instrument- such as analytical and problem-solving skills- carry over into participating in sports.
However, it’s a lesser known fact that watching sports can actually increase your brain function, too. While following certain plays, your brain tracks what is transpiring, predicts what will happen next, and makes your thought processes more agile. Watching sports has even been proven to expand your language skills.
Add fantasy football into the mix, and you get the best of both worlds. When you choose your team, you have to scan hundreds of players and pick the top performing player for your team based on his statistics.
A tremendous amount of risk analysis and performance prediction goes into merely forming your team. While you’re watching the games, your body may not necessarily be moving, but your brain is in overdrive. Pay enough attention to your competitors’ teams as well, and you have a factory of statistics churning in your mind.
5. Take up gardening
You don’t need to have much of a green thumb to enjoy the mental benefits of gardening.
Gardening can be regarded as a type of meditation, which reduces the stress hormone, cortisol, within the body. Being around plants, in the sunshine, increases your exposure to oxygen and Vitamin D, helping the brain perform its functions with ease. The most impressive part, however, is that gardening is known to decrease the likelihood of dementia by 36%.
That is definitely a brain-benefitting hobby.
6. Become bilingual
Studies have shown time and time again that bilingual individuals have increased brain activity and, in short, tend to be smarter than their monolingual friends.
When you learn a new language, you will complete many assignments, like memorizing new vocabulary words, verb conjugations, and recognizing foreign grammar structures. It can be painful at times, but it is also a great deal of fun and will heighten your intelligence. Learning a new language will also assist in your problem-solving and planning skills.
The process of learning a new language involves tasks such as analyzing grammatical structures and learning new words, which enhances your intelligence and brain health.
It has also been proven through various experiments that people with high levels of verbal-linguistic intelligence are great at planning, decision-making and problem-solving.
7. Catch the travel bug
Not surprisingly, the best way to learn a language is to travel to the country where the language is spoken. And it just so happens that travel itself will make you smarter, too. When you do both, you’re doing your brain a big favor.
If you’re simply going on a vacation to relax in the sun, you’ll aide your brain by boosting its levels of cortisol and serotonin. It’s almost impossible not to be happy while swimming on the beach and treating yourself to a few days away from work.
But, if you happen to be traveling to a place where you’ve never experienced the culture, your mind will expand in a multitude of ways — taking in life from perspectives you never knew existed. You’ll push the boundaries of your own mind by experiencing new ways of life, foods, personalities, and infrastructures so different from your own.
Science has confirmed that there are many hobbies that will make learning and boosting intelligence a most enjoyable feat. Whether your hobby takes place from an exotic locale or the comfort of your living room, the benefits are long-lasting, and 100% worth the time.
So, what are you waiting for? Banish the voice in your head that says learning can’t be fun, and bring back the brain-building hobbies you love!
What are your favorite brain-building hobbies? Share them in the comments section below!
