Boost Your Intelligence

Have you ever felt like the dullest person in the room? Has a low test score made you doubt your intelligence? Many people think their IQ is set in stone. They assume that one bad grade is a recipe for lifelong stupidity. But your intelligence isn't predetermined. The portions of your brain responsible for learning, memory, and other forms of cognition can change over time.

As you mature, these regions develop at different rates. Some people will nurture them, helping these regions grow dense and complex. Other people will neglect them, leaving their brains immature and slow. My point here is your intelligence depends on you. While nature certainly plays a role, very few people are doomed from the get-go. But that doesn't mean increasing your IQ is quick and easy.

No, while some shortcuts can earn you a few extra points, developing lasting intelligence takes time and a lot of hard work. These four techniques each offer you a powerful way to develop your brain and boost your intelligence. Oh, and the very best part is every single one of these techniques is right at your fingertips. So if you want to increase your IQ, incorporate these four powerful techniques into your daily routine. It may take a bit of hard work, but the reward is a gift that lasts a lifetime.

Technique #1: Independent Study

While advanced degrees offer an array of educational opportunities, you can increase your IQ without spending thousands on an expensive program. In this day and age, information is everywhere. If you don't believe me, open a web browser, and type in any question you can imagine. Someone, somewhere in the world will have an answer.

You'll find research studies conducted on the subject, books written by leading experts in the field, and classes taught by experienced professionals. The modern world offers a limitless supply of educational resources. All you have to do is use them. Many of the world's most intelligent people found success outside of traditional academia. They checked out dozens, if not hundreds, of books from the library. They attended conferences, listened to seminars, and networked with others in their field.

They took advantage of online courses where they not only learned from the best but also honed new and unique skills. The information's out there, the resources are waiting to be read, absorbed, and put into practice. There's only one hurdle standing in your way: it's the same reason that most people struggle to educate themselves without traditional schooling. When you study on your own, there's no one telling you what to do. There's no one keeping you in line. There's no one forcing you to read book after book. Outside of the classroom, learning is a game against yourself.

If you want to increase your IQ, you're responsible for your own education. If you falter, you won't learn much. But if you can stay self-disciplined, you'll discover an incredible habit that will carry with you for the rest of your life. Why is that? Because independent study teaches you to love learning. You begin to crave new knowledge and synthesize that knowledge in ways that most people just don't understand. Have you ever noticed the most intelligent people aren't just good at one thing? Their encyclopedic brains excel in specific fields, but they draw from a wide bank of information.

When you understand a myriad of subjects, your brain processes information in more innovative ways. You discover new solutions, connections, and perspectives that you never would have seen otherwise. So if you're interested in something, anything, just pick up a book, read an article, or enroll in an online course. Each and every time you discover something new, your cognitive abilities will grow a little bit more. You don't need teachers, lectures, and classrooms to build your intelligence. With millions of educational resources at your disposal, you can increase your IQ all on your own.

Technique #2: Musical Training

Did you learn piano as a kid? Most people played some kind of instrument growing up. Maybe you played in a school band or just learned a couple of songs on the guitar. These days you may only remember a few chords, but that childhood hobby had a lasting impact on your brain.

A study from 1998 in the journal Scientific Correspondence discovered something incredible about musical training. It turns out adults who play an instrument were better learners than almost anyone else. Imagine you're sitting in class listening to a lecture on American history or cell biology. Some students will retain more information than others. Their memories are geared towards certain kinds of stimuli, either verbal or visual.

If you have a strong verbal memory, you learn the best from lectures, speeches, and conversations. You retain and process spoken language quickly and efficiently. But if you're a visual learner, lectures aren't your strong suit. Instead, you prefer diagrams and displays which show information in a visual way.

So how do these two types of learning relate to music, you may ask? After reading and memorizing music, adults with musical training demonstrated fantastic verbal memories. In fact, their verbal skills significantly outperformed everyone else in the study. But they're not bad visual learners either. Their visual scores remained on par with the average visual learner.

In other words, musicians have a knack for both types of learning. So what do these results mean for you? If you learn an instrument, you may become a capable learner across the board, absorbing both verbal and visual stimuli. If you can learn in more diverse ways, your brain can process more information than the average person and understand subjects from a variety of angles.

Oh, but that's not all musical training does for your brain. A second study from 2009 in the Journal of Neuroscience found that music actually reconstructs the brain. Scientists call this brain plasticity. Brain plasticity means the structure of your brain can change in response to your environment.

If your environment is more musical, those changes become more dramatic. Your brain is the most susceptible to change during major periods of development, like adolescence and young adulthood. During these periods of significant growth, musical training strengthens the regions of your brain associated with learning, memory, motor skills, and auditory skills.

Not to mention, it's also emotionally and creatively stimulating. So pick up the piano, fish your old guitar out of the garage, learn a song or two, or just fiddle with the strings. You don't have to be a world-class musician; a little practice goes a long way.

Technique #3: Strengthening Your Heart

Physical and intellectual performance go hand-in-hand. A study from 2009 published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America discovered a close relationship between intelligence and athleticism. We often think of brains and brawn as natural enemies, but physical fitness is a great way to increase your IQ.

But not in the way most people think. Lifting weights and building muscles isn't going to strengthen your brain, but conditioning your heart might. In this 2009 study, participants with strong cardiovascular systems were some of the most intelligent. Well, why? Because the heart supplies the brain with oxygenated blood. Your brain needs that blood to think, process, and retain information.

Oh, and that's not all. The heart also communicates with the brain in several different ways. Neurologically, the two organs transmit nerve impulses back and forth, controlling integral bodily functions. Your heartbeat, for example, stems from signals in the brain. The heart and brain also exchange information through hormones, pressure waves, and neurotransmitters.

So even if your heart can't think, it plays an important role in all kinds of cognitive and psychological functions. So physical fitness isn't just for athletes. Intelligent people need to challenge their bodies too. In that way, your brain gets everything it needs to perform at its peak.

Technique #4: Mastering a New Language

In our society, language is everything. We use language to express ideas, concepts, and philosophies. We use it to tell stories and document our history, to communicate and build relationships. Without language, humankind would never have evolved into the global force that we are today.

That's why understanding language is such a key component of our intellectual abilities. People who understand language excel socially and professionally in our society. So what's the best way to improve your understanding of language? Learning a new language is a great place to start.

In a 2012 study from the journal Neural Image, researchers found that bilingual adults have a huge neurological advantage over adults who speak only one language. You see, learning a new language is a lot like musical training. It challenges specific regions of the brain on a regular basis, forcing those regions to expand.

The two most important regions are the hippocampus, which controls learning and memory, and the frontal lobe, which moderates problem-solving and language comprehension. Adopting a new language leads to a higher concentration of gray matter in both the hippocampus and the frontal lobe.

More gray matter allows for more complex cognitive developments, and more development means a higher IQ. On the best part of this powerful technique, like all the others on this list, is that you can start at any time. There are dozens of classes, tutors, and books that can teach you a second language in no time.

You can even use interactive apps on your phone, which turn language comprehension into an educational game. By taking advantage of these resources, you won't just learn a few new tricks. You'll expand your brain, and you'll increase your IQ for years to come.

Summary Table

Technique	Benefits
Independent Study	Improves self-discipline and broadens knowledge.
Musical Training	Enhances verbal and visual learning abilities.
Strengthening Your Heart	Boosts cognitive functions through cardiovascular health.
Mastering a New Language	Increases gray matter, enhancing cognitive development.

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