Study on intelligence
People who are intelligent exercise less and drink more alcohol
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Sufficient exercise, going to bed early, no drugs – intelligent people live in a way that would be good for their health? A study says the opposite.
One would assume that smart people know what is good for their health. Of course, this includes a balanced diet with little alcohol and cigarettes (let alone other drugs), enough exercise and enough sleep. A psychologist from the London School of Economics and Political Science, Satoshi Kanazawa, has written in a However, a study found that intelligent people don’t always behave this way. On the contrary: they even have very unhealthy habits more often than average.
Study shows: Intelligent people often lead unhealthy lives
For the study, Kanazawa examined the characteristics and values of people with a high intelligence quotient and discovered that they mostly represent modern, liberal values. Religion is often less of an issue for smart people than for those who are not so smart.
Smart people seem to hold these liberal views in all walks of life. According to the study, they often go to bed late and drink more regularly than people with lower IQs (although intelligent people tend to drink in moderation). Additionally, they don’t move as much as less smart people.
The Savanna Theory: The brains of smart people cope better in the modern world
But shouldn’t you think that intelligent people in particular know that this unhealthy lifestyle with too little sleep, frequent alcohol consumption and not enough exercise is harmful to them? Basically yes, says Satoshi Kanazawa. He connects the results of his study with the “savannah theory”.
This means that the brains of smart people are better able to cope with the developments and demands of the modern world. The brains of people who are not so intelligent, on the other hand, do not cope as well with developments that are relatively new from an evolutionary point of view, such as urban life and the media. Instead, they are often more conservative and traditional.
Alcohol as a drug for intoxication, like the Internet and television – which often prevent us from getting enough exercise and going to bed on time – logically played no role in the Stone Age. According to the savanna theory, less intelligent people are less likely to do this precisely because their brains have not evolved as strongly as those of very intelligent people.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that every night owl who enjoys a few glasses of wine is a genius. Likewise, every abstinent competitive athlete is no less smart than the aforementioned disadvantages. Satoshi Kanazawa’s research is not about such generalizations. Rather, he tries to understand to what extent the brains of intelligent and less intelligent people differ and how they each deal with certain values and options in the modern world.
Sources used: psychologytoday.com, forschung-und-wissen.de