Have you ever wondered what it would take to become a little smarter, more intelligent?
Reading books for hours on end or listening to professors speak about specialist subjects might be a great way of doing so, but who has the time to dedicate all of that time in the pursuit of knowledge?
Sometimes, you just want to be able to remember those last couple of digits of your phone number, but it always seems to elude you.
To work around this, we’ve managed to find 10 different ways that are quick, easy to pick up and understand, but a little bit odd at the same time.
By following a few of these (or all of them), you are going to see an obvious improvement before too long!
1. Use Your Least Dominant Hand More Often
Research has shown that regularly using your dominant hand won’t improve brain power, however, by switching to your least dominant hand, you can receive obvious mental benefits; other than gaining the ability to become ambidextrous.
By using your least dominant hand, it forces your brain to adapt to the task, and will eventually come to empower your brain.
Just by doing this, it can enhance neural networks in the brain and even breed some new ones after long enough.
2. Start Taking New Routes
Regularly taking the same routes has shown to bring the brain to a sort of “autopilot” mode, where stimulation is limited.
By breaking the mould and taking an unfamiliar route that you aren’t used to taking or have never been on before, your mind will receive a positive amount of stimulation.
The research has shown that it activates the hippocampus and the cortex in your brain, and that’s all by taking a different route to work every day.
No matter the transportation method, that new route will assuredly help your brain power.
3. Learn Something New and Become Good At It
When you decide to learn something new, research has shown that its particularly effective at improving a person’s brain power.
Since you confront your medulla oblongata with something new, it manages to stimulate the brain, thus charging it.
Although, it does mean you should only focus on the one task at a time!
If you choose to focus on more than one task, it can split your focus and cause more issues in the long run, meaning that your brain won’t create the new structures it needs to for the original task.
So, be sure to not spread yourself too thin.
4. Stop Multitasking
As studies have shown, multitasking is just not good for our brains.
If by any chance you’re reading this article to improve your brain power, then make sure you stop multitasking!
Managing to follow a myriad of different tasks to their conclusion typically doesn’t end in the way you’re hoping, as more mistakes are bound to be made, all depending on how many tasks you’re juggling at once.
Just choose to focus on one task until completion and you are more likely to be satisfied with the end results and you won’t have to endure a higher number of mistakes across the board.
5. Make Sure to Ask Question
Asking questions is an incredibly way to keep your brain in good health.
Not only does asking questions show that you’re listening when someone is talking, but it forces you to become more engaged on the subject in question.
Questions are a great way to clear out doubt and find the answers that you were looking for, even if they can be a bit silly at times.
The thing is, however, without asking questions, you’re never going to get the answers you seek, and thus won’t gain any knowledge on the subject.
Some of the smartest people in the world got to hold that title, all because they wanted some answers to their questions!
6. Stop Watching TV (Where Possible)
Let’s be honest, completely cutting TV out of your life is going to be an incredibly difficult task, and it isn’t exactly expected, but the positive effects of doing so (or even limiting your time) are numerous.
Testing has come to show that verbal IQ scores, which are measured through vocabulary and language skills, quickly fall in proportion to the amount of TV watched.
Reducing the amount of time, you spend in front of that screen will increase your brain power, but to see the full benefits, you’ll have to completely strike the thing from your life!
7. Play N-Back and Dual N-Back In the Morning
While there aren’t many games out nowadays that have any improvement to brain power, N-Back and Dual N-Back and proven to be quite effective after continuous testing.
Even just playing these games 10-15 minutes a day would be beneficial and would end up improving your short-term memory, general brain power, and your intelligence quotient, and that’s not an easy task to muster in most cases.
8. Lift Weights At Least Once A Week
A truly “odd” one now, but did you know that lifting weights can in actual fact help your brain?
While it seems strange to think about, the science makes complete sense when you think about it.
By taking part in physical activities, such as lifting weights, it proceeds to increase your overall heart rate.
When your heart rate increases, so does the oxygen supply towards your brain.
Simply by weight lifting, you can improve brain power and create new brain cells for optimal mental health and can even reduce the stress hormones in your body, such as Cortisol, Norepinephrine, and adrenaline.
9. Sleep Well or Take Short Naps
This one should come as no surprise, but by sleeping appropriately, both your body and your mind is bound to experience numerous positive effects.
One of the main positives that has been shown through sleep studies is the fact that the brain retains recently acquired information much more consistently if you go to sleep shortly after gaining that information.
Sleep is a reliable tool to strengthen the connections between neurons, and thus aids in quick memory and better learning.
This just goes to show, that late-night study session through till the morning is only going to prove more detrimental to the mind.
10. Eat Wild Salmon At Least Once a Week
Salmon has been considered ‘brain food’ for quite some time now, and it’s for a very good reason.
Research into this wonderous fish has shown that its efficiency-boosting nutrients will help both your body and brain through consumption.
Now, what makes wild Salmon so good for you? Well, that’s all thanks to the omega-3 fatty acids that our bodies require: eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), linolenic acid (ALA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).
Our bodies do not naturally create these omega-3 acids, and without them can cause poor brain-building and reduce your brain power.
However, by consuming wild Salmon, you will gain the benefits you need from this fish to keep both your body and your brain happy and healthy!
If you can’t get enough nutrients from real foods, then a set of brain supplements might be able help you.
While these may be some odd and strange ways to go about improving brain power, each and every single one of them has been researched and proven to be an effective way to improve a person’s brain power.
All of which are simple to perform and don’t take much out of your day (for the most part) and even if you can’t do all of them, doing at least one of them will see positive effects for your mind.
Multipotens is an ultimate self-improvement blog that cover many topics (health is one of them).