intelligence
These 6 habits can make you stupid
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We often make life unnecessarily difficult for ourselves – for example through habits that reduce our mental performance. We’d better stop these things.
1. Doing several things at the same time
Write a Facebook post while the TV is on and scroll through the Instagram timeline at the same time? Not a good idea! Multi-tasking can hurt our IQ more than smoking weed or not getting enough sleep, such a study of University of Londonespecially with electronic media.
Doing several tasks at the same time can trigger feelings of happiness because dopamine is released in our body, but our ability to concentrate decreases significantly as a result. In addition, the stress hormone cortisol is released – and that is unhealthy in the long run anyway.
While some people are better at multi-tasking than others, we should generally try to do no more than two things at a time.
2. Dim the light
It’s bad for mood anyway, but our memory also suffers from a lack of light: Researchers from Michigan were able to show that the structure of the brain changes when people spend a lot of time in rooms with poor lighting. In particular, the ability to remember clearly decreases as a result. So if you want to stay fit in your head, you should make sure that the workplace is bright and well lit – then the romantic candlelight dinner in between is no problem either.
3. Series searched
That’s really hard now, but there’s a lot of evidence to support it: TV doesn’t exactly make you smart. Several studies have shown that it damages our ability to process and classify impressions from our environment. This in turn slows down our ability to interpret and react, and we stop questioning or explaining things on our own.
But if we dose our serial consumption well and balance it out with a lively social life and sport, we can too just enjoy a cozy Netflix evening.
4. Work at Starbucks
Don’t worry: this doesn’t mean working as a barista or waiter! It’s about the people who prefer to write their bachelor’s theses or screenplays in hip cafés on their Macbooks instead of in the quiet little room at home. Even if you like to be seen or drink good coffee – the distraction caused by background noise reduces the performance and receptivity of the brain. In any case, experts recommend that you always do demanding tasks in a quiet environment.
5. Too little sleep
Apparently not quite as bad as multi-tasking, but lack of sleep not only makes you tired, it actually makes you stupid. It has been proven that our ability to concentrate and remember decreases and our creativity also decreases if we don’t sleep enough. So before we go to bed, we shouldn’t do anything that upsets us – like working or answering emails, because even the hour that we can’t fall asleep makes all the difference.
Watching TV isn’t a good idea either (at least not if we have to get up early the next morning), even if it’s a fixed evening ritual for many. Maybe pick up a book again or write a diary, do handicrafts, knit … or or or!
6. Be afraid
huh Yes, it’s true: fear prevents us from approaching things rationally and with a cool head. When we’re constantly scared, our brain just doesn’t work properly, we’re out of our minds. Occasional excitement or something like stage fright can boost our performance, since a short adrenaline rush will get us going. But long-term states of anxiety and worries not only limit our quality of life but also our mental performance.