Today's work competition is getting tighter. With the internet, communication is very easy to do. Information flow flows as fast as lightning, without stopping. This encourages everyone to enrich their knowledge and skills by accessing internet knowledge.
Everyone competing doesn't want to miss information, you are no exception. As if, who has the most knowledge and skills, who is the winner in the competition. Who is careless about just one second, then he will be left behind by his friends and lose in competition.
However, behind your persistence to learn new things, whether through the internet or other means, there are concerns about your position. You want to get as much information from the internet and various sources, but the problem is, often when learning something new, you have a hard time understanding it. Every time you read and learn something new, your head immediately dizzy.
Many times you have read it, but many times you also fail to understand what it means. As a result, finally, you give up and entertain yourself, "It's old, the brain is not strong enough to think hard."
Yup! You entertain yourself that the age factor has lowered your intelligence, making it difficult for you to think hard. You think that your intelligence decreases as you age.
Is that suspicion really? Yup! According to the old invention, a person's intelligence decreases according to his age. The older, the intelligence decreases. Memory and the ability to think is not as sharp as it once was, when I was young. In addition, still according to the old findings, intelligence is also seen as genetic quality. That is, intelligence is only seen as being influenced by genetic factors. If you have been smart, you will be smart, without the need to sharpen your brain. Conversely, if you have been less intelligent than ever, then forever you will be less intelligent even if you sharpen your brain in various ways.
But, do you know? The recent findings of neuroscientists (neuroscience) prove that intelligence can continue to increase no matter how old a person is, nor does it matter how intelligent he is when he is born. This finding is based on research that concludes that it turns out that brain forms are not static but plastic (like plastic). Now, because it is plastic, the brain structure can change.
This change is triggered by activities carried out by the person concerned. Plasticity (changes in brain structure) can also occur in response when the brain is injured. Plasticity that occurs because the wound serves to restore the brain structure to its original state.
Plasticity can occur with the interconnection of brain cells (cellular level) or large-scale changes such as cortical re-mapping.
Now, when learning cells in the brain are connected, the brain is healthier and smarter.
So, by doing certain activities, your brain cells can be interconnected. At the end, you are getting smarter too.
Well, now, what activities can make brain cells connect and sharpen them? Come on, let's find out below.
Food
Food is very influential on our brains. Do you remember when you were little? You need breast milk for growth and intelligence of your brain. In addition, you also need foods such as meat and vegetables that also play a role in brain growth.
So, what types of food support intelligence?
You can consume fish oil, marine animals such as fish, squid, shrimp, meat such as chicken and beef (especially the liver), eggs, spinach, avocados, bananas, and so on.
Learn new things
It's no secret if intelligence is directly proportional to knowledge. That is, the more knowledge, the smarter we become.
Imagine early humans who knew little about the concept of things. You certainly agree if it is said that the level of intelligence of modern humans is higher than the level of ancient human intelligence.
That fact is very logical considering that ancient human knowledge was very limited, while modern human knowledge was very complex and very numerous. Modern humans know a lot of concepts in which knowledge of concepts allows them to determine decisions or solve problems consciously.
To clarify it, see your child who is less than one year old. Children who are less than one year old are of course not familiar with concepts. Notice when he is faced with two choices, namely between a box containing five candies and a box containing two candies. Ask him to choose a box containing more sweets. What happened? Hehehe, But he ignored your words. He will choose according to the choice of unconscious choice. This happens because let alone know the concept of many and few, it doesn't even know the language you are using.
The more concepts (vocabulary) mastered by the baby, the intelligence will increase.
Well, if you want to sharpen your brain, then do what is done by a baby, which is learning new things.
Do not smoke
Smoking not only damages the lungs, you know. Charled DeCarli, MD, along with the University of California (The University of California), in his research, found that smoking can cause a decrease in brain volume as a whole, and especially the hippocampus, the part of the brain that plays a role in intelligence.
Write
Do you remember when you were in school? When you are studying mathematics, you are asked to work on multiplication questions and divide up to 4 numbers. Can you solve the problem just by imagining the numbers and counting them? If so, wow! You are great!
But, I'm sure, you are helped by paper and pens when solving the problem. You write down the numbers and count them on paper in a certain way.
Well, writing is indeed one of the most effective ways to solve problems.
Writing can help us record and store information that we receive when working memory (working memory) we experience alias overload is unable to accommodate these information because the information we receive is too much.
Writing can be used as a means to unravel and clarify matters that were initially very abstract and confusing. This does not only apply to math problems.
When facing difficult problems in the office, or when planning a task, writing can be used as a means to decipher your abstract ideas to be clear.
For the author himself, writing can stimulate the brain to think more sharply. Writing stimulates the brain to sort out data that is irrelevant from data that is not relevant for an article.
When the writing process takes place, things that were previously unthinkable suddenly appear in the brain and can be considered whether they need to be included in the writing or not. In addition, we are also encouraged to examine our writing, whether logical, or ambiguous and overlapping.
Now, by knowing the shortcomings of our writing, we are able to make improvements. Repairing the writing is the same as improving ideas.
Therefore, to be smarter, cultivate the habit of writing for yourself. With the habit of writing, your brain is used to analyzing, sorting out relevant data from irrelevant ones, and you are increasingly accustomed to sharp and detailed thinking.
Sports
Physical activity affects the brain? Maybe your eyes will be wide open to hear the statement that exercise can increase intelligence.
But, did you know that human intelligence starts with physical activity? Humans can think like now is not happening "mak makunduk" alias just like that, but from an ongoing evolution.
The evolution of the brain occurs as a result of the physical activity of early humans at that time. In short, when primates, which are the ancestors of humans, are no longer able to find food in their environment, then they also have to find food elsewhere. To go to another place, they have to walk very far. Now, because unlike other animals, which can run fast, primates must change the way they walk. Initially, they walked on four legs. However, for the sake of time efficiency, now they have to walk upright (bipedal).
Now, this evolution (from walking on four legs to bipedal) automatically frees their two front legs. Now, the legs are no longer a pair of legs but a pair of hands.
Furthermore, because primates do not have weapons in their bodies that can be used to defend themselves and look for food (in contrast to tigers that can run fast and tear ivory, in contrast to deer that can run very fast) the primates must use their hands to create tools to defend themselves and find food.
This hand movement in creating equipment is what ultimately makes the primate's brain structure change. Over time, they were able to create categories and definitions of objects. In short, they are able to think like humans, even at the simplest level.
Now, by knowing the explanation above, we know that physical activity (exercise) can change the structure of our brain. but, if you still doubt the theory of evolution, then there are other studies that conclude that physical activity (exercise) can increase your intelligence. what research is that?
In 2013, researchers from Dana-Farber and Harvard Medical School discovered that certain molecules were released when we exercised. In their study, it was found that the release of these molecules can increase intelligence and protect the brain from degeneration.
So it is possible that some of the keys to successful brain training can be applied in your life. Hopefully the methods above can help you improve intelligence your brain.
With an increasingly intelligent brain, you are more easily learning new things. And, the more knowledge and skills you master, the chance to win career competition is more wide open.
End of words, happy learning.
Thanks for reading.