Can you become cleverer

Explorations of the limits of our brains, plus ways of thinking differently. A less alarming but surprising path to increased intelligence, Hurley suggests, might be learning to play a musical instrument. If we think of intelligence as an unchanging quantity, she argues, we avoid the very challenges that could improve it, because we fear falling short.

Can we make ourselves more intelligent? We'll go over common traits, how they compare to type…. Psychologists and psychiatrists have a lot in common, but they also have some key differences. Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Mental Health. Medically reviewed by Timothy J. Legg, Ph. Exercise regularly. Get enough sleep. Drink coffee. Drink green tea. Eat nutrient-rich foods. Play an instrument. Continue learning. The bottom line. Read this next. Medically reviewed by Vara Saripalli, Psy.

What an Introvert Is — and Isn't. Medically reviewed by Kendra Kubala, PsyD. What Is a Psychiatrist? Research shows that improving our intelligence is possible at any age. The things we do and our outlook in life , such as possessing a growth mindset as opposed to a fixed mindset , can contribute greatly to improving our cognitive abilities.

There are simple habits that you can apply in your daily life that can help make you smarter. A great tool to do this is to join over 1 million others and start your day with the latest FREE, informative news from this website. Studies have found that the earlier in life a person learns to read and the more reading materials they are subjected to, the more cognitive skills they will develop. Reading and literacy seem to be linked to intelligence, as researchers have found that a student who is not proficient in reading by the 3rd grade is four times more likely to drop out of school than their more literate peers.

However, even for those who have limited reading comprehension skills, reading can help enhance their vocabulary and their development of intellectual functioning. Reading an actual book improves your memory and makes you smarter. Reading stimulates your brain and keeps it healthy, which is critical for your memory. Reading has been found to reduce age-related cognitive decline, helping people maintain their memory and preventing the development of mental illnesses.

When you are reading, there is a lot of information to remember—from characters' names to the sequence of events in the story. You may even be reading a mystery that has you trying to interpret or decipher information on your own, requiring you to remember everything that has happened in the book from start to finish. People who read literature also have an edge when it comes to interpersonal skills.

Aside from the fact that reading will give you something to talk about in conversations with other people, studies have shown that people who read have more emotional intelligence than those who don't. Reading improves your ability to pick up on other people's facial cues because it provides you with a larger reference point to decode another person's expressions.

Also, reading gives you a chance to subconsciously practice empathy. So not only does reading make you smarter, it can also make you a better person. To learn more, here are 17 benefits of building the reading habit and here are 47 great books you can grab for free through the Kindle Unlimited program. A lot of people think they have to be up-to-date with all of the latest news—usually to feel like they know about everything that is going on.

However, any knowledge that is acquired through chaotic consumption when your brain is on information overload rarely adds value to your intelligence. Subscribing to filtered news services gives you a better perspective on current events and topics only in areas of your interest.

Don't waste your time taking in irrelevant information just so you don't suffer from FOMO. Make sure you are spending your time learning material that you can apply and benefit from in the long run.

There is an advantage to surrounding yourself with like-minded people. But if you want to get smarter, hang out with people who are more intelligent than you are. Create connections with people who inspire you, and those you deem to be exceptionally successful. The diversity of opinions and expertise sharpens your brain. In order to improve yourself, you have to be exposed to environments that are challenging for you, and that give you the opportunity to grow and learn. Stop wasting your time with people who hold you back or make you feel bad about yourself.

Being selective about who you spend your time with becomes increasingly strategic with age, as it has been said that you are the sum of the five people you spend the most time with. If the people who surround you impact you so deeply, you should learn to attract others you admire, and phase out toxic relationships in your life.

You can implement this idea by finding people online who share a mutual desire for self-improvement. To get started, here are three articles you can check out:.

Doing something new every day will give you a wide range of perspectives to pull from in your small, everyday areas of specialization. For example, people with naturalist intelligence like to analyze, and manipulate the things in their environment.

Doing new things helps you learn, which then makes you more readily adaptable to new circumstances. Having a wide range of knowledge of unconventional situations promotes innovation by inspiring you to think outside of the box and giving you examples to follow. Doing new things deepens your character and makes other people look up to you as being an inspiring person.

Knowing you have the ability to do more things will also make you more confident. Doing unfamiliar tasks will stimulate your brain and make you smarter.

Here is a list of over things to learn beginning today. From to , a pair of researchers studied 31 middle school special needs students. I go to escape rooms where I use logic to solve problems and find people interested in developing their mental capacity.

I even find people online through Quora, and network with cold emails. This shouldn't be surprising, but many people underestimate just how much reading can influence and improve the mind. Well-read people aren't just articulate--they also have a vast pool of knowledge and an always-evolving mind.

Reading improves your vocabulary, expands your communication skills and develops your analytical abilities. You don't need to stick to self-help books or dry, scientific tomes either. The lack of sleep, relaxation, and excessive stress can diminish your brain's capacity. The brain requires plenty of energy to function, so if you're exhausted all the time, your mind simply won't have the ability to learn and improve.

Yes, there is such thing. Food is fuel for the body, but it does matter what kind of fuel you are using. High nutrition foods work well to power up your brain. Walnuts are a great source of brain food, so is fish; tuna, mackerel, salmon contain rich, fatty acids that have been proven to help neurons function.

Harvard did an amazing study on this exact topic titled, ' Nutritional Psychiatry: Your Brain on Food.