{"id":11190,"date":"2021-05-31T16:54:58","date_gmt":"2021-05-31T16:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/?p=11190"},"modified":"2021-06-14T13:33:09","modified_gmt":"2021-06-14T13:33:09","slug":"study-shows-some-hobbies-can-increase-iq-by-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/spring-summer-2021\/study-shows-some-hobbies-can-increase-iq-by-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Study Shows Some Hobbies Can Increase IQ by 10%"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/span>f you ever worry that your favorite hobby might be a waste of time, albeit fun, here\u2019s some good news. Your hobby might just be making you more intelligent.<\/p>\n

According to a recent study, your IQ might improve after tackling a hobby.<\/p>\n

In case you have forgotten, IQ tests are a tool to measure a range of cognitive reasoning skills such as problem-solving and logic. According to the online resource, VeryWellMind<\/a>, an average IQ test score is around 100, with different countries varying between 59 and 108.<\/p>\n

If there can be a silver lining in the pandemic, more people have embraced new hobbies. According to Google statistics, over 6,000 people search Google monthly to take up new hobbies.<\/p>\n

DIYS.com<\/a>, a specialty website focusing on do-it-yourself projects and tutorials in home design, fashion, and crafts, conducted a six-month study on how hobbies might affect IQ. They asked volunteers to take an IQ test before and after discovering which activities improve their cerebral intelligence.<\/p>\n

\"\"\nThe winners are:<\/p>\n

First place<\/h3>\n

In first place is learning a new instrument with an IQ score increase of 9.71% (103-113). Ted Talks reports that playing a musical instrument engages nearly every brain area at once – playing music uses both parts of the brain\u2019s hemispheres while increasing activity within the corpus callosum (the bridge). DIYS.com can reveal that the most popular instrument to pick up was the guitar, with 31% of participants favoring it.<\/p>\n

Second place<\/h3>\n

Knitting takes second place with an increase of 9.68%, with average IQ scores of 93 before and 102 after the six months. Not only is knitting a stress-reducing activity, but it also engages cognitive stimulation. 46% of volunteers disclosed they knitted while engaged in another activity like watching TV, and a further 71% admitted they felt their concentration levels rise.<\/p>\n

Third place<\/h3>\n

Exercising ranks third with an IQ amelioration of 7.37% (95-102). Playing sports and exercising is a popular activity to increase happiness via the release of chemicals known as endorphins, in addition to dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. According to Harvard Medical School, people who exercise have a larger brain volume in the memory and control-thinking areas. DIYS.com reports the top exercises volunteers took up were running (25%), cycling (18%), and Zumba virtual classes (14%).<\/p>\n

Fourth place<\/h3>\n

Following in fourth place is reading as volunteers responded to a 7.07% IQ score increase. Participants were asked to read a new book every week and subsequently showed an average IQ increase score from 99 to 106. Not only does reading improve vocabulary range, but it can also develop analytical and critical thinking as the constant stimulation trains the brain to problem-solve. Moreover, participants in the study commented that they felt more relaxed after a few weeks.<\/p>\n

Fifth place<\/h3>\n

Meditating takes fifth place with an IQ improvement of 6.38% (94-100). Pilates (23%), yoga (21%), and mindful breathing (17%) were the most popular practices. With constant distractions, meditation exercises our attention spans with evidence suggesting that long-term meditators are shown to have faster reaction times.<\/p>\n

Other hobbies in the top 10<\/h3>\n

Other notable activities which make the top ten include:\nLearning a new language – 5.88%\nGardening – 5.10%\nJoining an online video game group – 4.81%\nCreating and editing videos – 4.26%\nTrying new recipes every week – 4.17%<\/p>\n

According to Stefan Gheorghe from DIYS.com<\/a>, \u201cThis year has challenged many of us physically, mentally, and emotionally and so the surge of starting a new hobby comes as no surprise. Participating in a new activity is a practical way of helping our mental health, especially if we are cooped up in our homes for an extended period of time.<\/p>\n

As the study shows, arts and crafts, among other mobility-training activities, can improve our moods alongside developing our cognitive skills. Without realizing, these activities are improving our emotional well-being as well as making us smarter.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the bonus of strengthening your brain, there\u2019s no time better than the present to pick your passion!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More reasons to follow your passion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11282,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[139,141],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-summer-2021","category-spring-summer-2021-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11190"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11510,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11190\/revisions\/11510"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}