The IQ test was invented specifically to determine the level of a person's intellectual development. What does its level depend on? Over the years, scientists have conducted research aimed at determining the factors that affect the level of human intellectual development. Estet-portal has collected the latest findings made by scientists in one article. So, what determines the efficiency of your brain, what factors are decisive in this matter?
1. Smoking
Israeli scientists conducted a study based on IQ tests. So the test was passed by 20 thousand smoking and non-smoking students of one of the technical institutes. The age of the participants in the experiment ranged from 18 to 21 years. So the average level of intellectual development of non-smoking students was 101. While for smokers this indicator was lower and amounted to only 94.
Scientists note that students who smoked more than one pack of cigarettes a day did not exceed 90 test scores. That is, their IQ level is below average. The results of this study were reinforced by conducting the same experiment with identical twins. So the smoking twin did worse on the test than his non-smoking brother.
2. Music lessons in childhood
The relationship between IQ levels and music activities has been studied by several different groups of researchers. They all came to the conclusion that music lessons in early childhood lead to an accelerated development of the child's intelligence. So the development of intellectual abilities in a child of 4-6 years old accelerates after a month of music lessons.
10 years ago, scientists proved that children who studied music for at least 9 months in adulthood show the best results when passing IQ tests. It is also noted that almost all people who occupy high positions were involved in music in early childhood.
3. Right of firstborn
Oddly enough, but in terms of the level of intelligence development, older children in the family are ahead of the younger ones. Scientists say that genetics is to blame. It should be noted that mostly – this is a small difference by a few points. But for statistical data, even an average difference in IQ level between the youngest and oldest children in the family by three points is of great importance.
4. Weight class
French scientists have shown that the level of a person's cognitive abilities directly depends on his weight. So people with a body mass index of more than 30 have a 56% smaller vocabulary compared to people with a body mass index of less than 20.
It is worth noting that the study lasted for 5 years and all this time there were two groups of people, 1100 people each, under observation. In addition to the main conclusions, scientists made another very important conclusion. They noted that the level of intellectual development in people whose body mass index, whose body did not fall below 30 in five years, decreased by several points.
5. Natural feeding
Almost in parallel, two studies were conducted in the UK and New Zealand that showed a link between intelligence and breastfeeding. So the results of both studies showed that people who were fed artificial mixtures from birth have an average IQ lower by 7 points.
Scientists explain this by the fact that breast milk not only increases the immunity of the child by transferring the mother's antibodies to him, but also affects the level of intellectual development. So babies who are breastfed develop faster.
6. The effect of marijuana on the intellect
The negative effect of drugs on the human body has been proven by more than one study. At the same time, three years ago, a study was conducted in the UK with the participation of 6,000 people who were born in 1958.
Analysis of the level of intelligence showed that people who used marijuana in their youth, and then quit – are the smartest. At the same time, people who still use cannabis showed the worst results.
It is worth noting that there have been previous studies that have shown that marijuana can help in the treatment of autism and multiple sclerosis.
Of course, the factors we have told you about today are not the only ones. There are many other factors, such as heredity or the chemical composition of mother's breast milk, that affect the level of intellectual development of a person. In any case, a person can develop himself. Only it is better to start this development from childhood.
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