Increase Intelligence: 7 Ingenious Tricks To Achieve It

Increasing intelligence is always possible. While it is true that we are born with genetic determinations that incline us to be more or less intelligent, it is also true that the brain is an organ endowed with great plasticity. This means that it changes, that it is modified based on experience, training and our openness to learning itself.

There is no consensus around the definition of intelligence. For some it is the ability to learn, to innovate, to give original answers to everyday problems (Charles Spearman, 1930). For others, it is the ability to apply knowledge (David Wechsler, 1960)

Perhaps the most universal definition is one that defines it as the ability to find new solutions to old problems. On the other hand, there are several models that understand that intelligence should be understood more as a set of intelligences – emotional intelligence, social intelligence, logical intelligence, etc. – than as a single one (Howard Gardner, 1990).

Intelligence, therefore, is not only applicable to professional activity. In one way or another, being smarter also helps us to be happier because it makes us better able to overcome difficult situations. It is worth working to increase intelligence and below we will give you 7 tricks to achieve it.

Strategies to increase intelligence

Rather than aspiring to increase our IQ, what we should put our personal goals on is enhancing our cognitive flexibility, as well as achieving a more optimal growth mindset. These factors can help us improve our quality of life by responding better to adversity, to see opportunities where others see walls and barbed wire.

Studies like the one carried out by psychologists

Let’s see how to get it.

1. Meditation serves to increase intelligence

Meditation  increases intelligence in the sense that it makes us more awake, better observers for what is happening inside and outside of us. This is not a simple assessment, but a conclusion backed by studies. In several experiments, monitored through MRIs, it has been shown that the brain works better after doing a meditation session.

There is no worse enemy of brain function than stress . Under this state, cortisol is released, a hormone that impairs concentration and memory. Meditation reduces stress. You don’t have to become a monk, you just have to take advantage of every waiting moment, like when you stand in line or wait for the bus to arrive to do breathing and relaxation exercises.

2. Expose yourself to new experiences

Everything new is a stimulus that induces an increase in intelligence. The novelty creates new connections in your brain. This is because you have to go through a thought process to absorb new information, understand it, and incorporate it into what you already know.

A trip, going out to a place you don’t know, reading a new book or any experience that is not frequent is a great food for your intelligence. Staying in the comfort zone only makes your window progressively lazier.

3. Get regular physical and mental exercise

Physical exercise oxygenates the brain and improves its function. It is also a way to reduce stress and to do mental hygiene. Mind and body are always united. A healthy body is the essential condition for a healthy mind that is in a position to increase its capacity.

It is also important to do mental exercises regularly. Try to stimulate your memory by trying to remember specific phone numbers or information. It is also good that you do the simple math operations manually. Playing chess, doing crossword puzzles and similar activities are very positive for increasing intelligence.

4. Learn a new language or play an instrument

Learning a new language is always a great challenge. It is not easy, especially when it comes to a language that is very distant from the mother tongue. But precisely that difficulty makes it an excellent way to increase intelligence.

When you learn a new language, you exercise many intellectual functions at the same time. The same is true when you learn to play a musical instrument. In both cases , functions such as attention, memory, coordination, analogies, etc. are put into play.

Studies such as the one carried out at the University of Toronto by Dr. Bernard Ross show us this relationship.

5. Look for the hard way

When we go the easy way, we may save time, but we also contribute to the atrophy of some of the brain’s abilities. In general, we want everything to have a “step by step”, that it is not necessary to think, but that others think for us.

This may be true in various circumstances, but it is also positive that we sometimes choose the hard way. Do not look for the instructions, but deduce the way to reach a result. That makes you more creative and smart. It also increases your confidence in yourself.

6. Connect with all kinds of people

Just as it is important to expose yourself to new situations, it is also important to come into contact with different types of people. Each relationship challenges you to see, capture and understand the other’s point of view and this ends up increasing intelligence.

It pays to have friends of different ages, backgrounds , beliefs, etc. If you only associate with people who look like you, you significantly limit your field of expertise. With this you also set limits to brain exercise.

7. Get enough and adequate rest

It is never necessary to insist on something that is increasingly evident: rest is as or more important than work. Elite athletes have learned this lesson very well, as they work with very high fatigue points.

• The brain, yes or yes, needs pauses so that it can function properly. If there is no rest, the consequence is a dull brain that works in mid-gear and its ability diminishes.
• Rest includes three aspects: active breaks during work, sleep time, and leisure time. All these dimensions are of great importance. Active breaks are a daily protective measure to avoid dullness.

• Sleep is essential for the brain to process the information it has absorbed. And leisure time is absolutely necessary to maintain long-term brain function.

What it is fundamentally about is to build a lifestyle that allows you to be more awake and attentive to the reality that surrounds you. That also includes regular measures to take care of the proper functioning of your brain. This, without a doubt, will be reflected in your well-being and your intelligence.