The mental level of humanity has been declining since the 70s of the last century.
The mental level of humanity is declining. This is very convincingly evidenced by the results of IQ tests. Starting from the 70s of the last century, the subjects gained on average less and less points.
There is still no complete agreement on the reasons for the worldwide dullness in the scientific world, but most of all its representatives "sin" on the modern way of life - especially on those habits that have appeared or worsened in our country in the course of technological progress.
What's wrong?
1. We move a little
We are so busy with very important things that we hardly find time for at least some kind of physical education. As a result, a sedentary body covers not only weakness, but also cardiovascular diseases. Because in people who neglect physical activity, the neural structures of the brain that are responsible for heart contractions and vascular tone become less efficient.
Conversely, regular exercise, while lowering the risk of chronic disease, also prevents mental deterioration. What do chemicals that enter the brain in response to physical activity contribute to - improve memory, increase learning ability.
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Surprisingly, exercise also helps you focus. With which, too, not everything is in order lately. And most likely from a lack of activity. Research by Microsoft shows that the average time people are able to focus on something in particular is 8 seconds, up from 12 seconds 15 years ago.
Move. At least walk. And sit less.
2. Eat food rich in "bad" fats
Sausages, bacon, jamon, boiled pork and other hams, which are abundant in counters, even in spite of the sanctions, buttery toast and french fries found on the menu of any restaurant, hinder the work of neurotransmitters - substances that transmit signals in the brain. They slow down. But not by themselves, but through the so-called saturated fats, which they are rich in.
Neurologists from the University of Montreal assure: these very "bad" fats also slow down the reaction time, knock off memory, drive into depression and "disrupt the functioning of brain structures deeply involved in mood disorders, drug addiction and overeating." To put it more simply: from food high in saturated fat, the stupefied body becomes at first fervent, then sad, and in the end it begins to want to abuse something.
We eat the wrong thing, look the wrong way, move a little.
Another thing is fish and other seafood with the "correct" unsaturated fats. They're even good for the brain.
3. We take on everything at once
In the hustle and bustle of the world around them, people are often "scattered" - they take on several things at once, believing that this way they will achieve success faster. They are mistaken. Multitasking is of little use, and it’s all bad for the brain.
“The brain isn’t focused on solving multiple problems at the same time,” says Earl Miller, a neuroscientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. - It only seems to people that they can easily cope with an abundance of problems at the same time. In fact, they switch from one to the other. And this is costly for the brain, which consumes glucose, its fuel, faster. And thus it depletes itself.
“Multitasking hinders deep creative thinking,” Miller said. And he explains why: rushing from one to another, we keep returning back, each time starting from scratch. As a result, thoughts become more and more superficial, new ideas are not born. The situation is complicated by stress hormones, which dull even more.
What to do? Solve problems as they arise. And don't get distracted - especially by emails.
Someone Glenn Wilson, professor of psychology at Gresham College, London, discovered an interesting phenomenon: a person who is focused on a task, but knows about an unread letter in the mailbox, becomes dumb, as they say, before our eyes - loses up to 10 points of IQ.
4. We are overwhelmed with information
A variety of information is now available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can get it at home, in the office, and even on the move. The ability to find addresses, phone numbers, recipes, names, events, even what our friends have been doing lately, psychologists call a neurological curse. Because people have stopped relying on their memory of certain events. The regions of the brain that process and store information deal with memories of a different kind - more primitive. For example, research conducted at Columbia University has shown that we are now trying to refresh in memory not the essence and details of information, but we are trying to remember where we saved it.
To somehow remedy the situation, scientists advise to learn poetry. Or songs. Better yet, learn how to play a musical instrument.
Information coming from everywhere is too heavy for an ordinary person.
5. Staring at screens
People are surfing the Internet today more than ever before. They contact each other through an intermediary - the screen. Some people stare at him almost all the time they are awake. Some people lack this too - they add TV, video games and a smartphone to screen time. Or alternate one with the other.
The radiation of screens does not cause much damage to the brain - except that it disrupts sleep. Which is also not good for the brain. Screens are harmful in themselves, forcing to lead a kind of on-line lifestyle. Live communication skills naturally suffer. Together with the ability to think flexibly and logically.
- Emotions that are inherent in human intelligence disappear from communication - they help him to delve deeper into certain situations, correctly assess them, - say psychologists from the University of Michigan. The matter, in their opinion, can reach the point that the corresponding areas in the brain atrophy - there will be fewer nerve cells. That, at least, threatens depression.
It will not be possible to completely abandon screens, scientists admit. But limiting the "screen time" would be worth it. Direct communication with living people will also help. Experiments have shown that to prevent mental degradation, it is enough to talk with another person for at least 10 minutes a day - face to face.
There is no time for personal communication.
6. We press on our ears, plugging them
Young people used to strive to plug their ears with headphones in order to hear not those around them, but their favorite music. But not many had the appropriate players. Now they have been replaced by smartphones, which almost everyone has. Accordingly, there are more headphones in the ears. And with them the threat of hearing damage increased.
Doctors assure that even the sound in the headphones, which does not seem too loud to the listeners, damages the hearing aid - that delicate and sensitive mechanism that our ears are equipped with. And the worse the hearing, the more difficult it is for the brain to perceive and memorize information. The more he is forced to strain and deteriorate.
Scientists advise: take the headphones out of your ears, move them away from your head at arm's length and listen. Next, you need to turn down the sound to barely audible. This is a more or less acceptable volume level,
7. We chew a lot and watch reality shows
Until recently, neurologists were convinced that chewing gum is beneficial. They say that this is a kind of physical exercise that increases blood flow to the brain, gives it additional energy, enhancing cognitive functions.
But an experiment conducted by British physician Dr Sarah Brewer showed that chewing gum is a distraction. The chewing subjects had a poor memory of sequences of words or numbers.
The Austrian psychologist Markus Appel surprisingly received similar results. But his volunteers did not chew anything, and before taking the tests, they watched reality shows like our "Dom-2".
Conclusion: away from stupid spectacles. And at the expense of chewing gum, Dr. Brewer's proposal is this: spit it out (in the trash can) - the chewing gum as soon as it becomes tasteless.
WHAT IS USEFUL?
Be in the midst of cultural life
Going to the theater reduces your chances of dying a fool ahead of time by 14 percent. But only if you attend an opera, ballet, concerts or performances at least twice a year. Scientists from the University College London (Department of Behavioral Science and Health, University College London, UK) convinced of this several thousand surveyed Britons aged 50 and older.
It is better to start prevention of dullness in childhood.
The phenomenon is easy to believe: cultural events give a respite from worries and flickering screens, from smartphones and headphones, from chewing gum and even from saturated fatty acids, unless, of course, there are sandwiches with raw smoked sausage during intermissions. In the theater and with real people, you can talk. And thus combine business with pleasure - with getting rid of several bad habits of the modern world at once.
"… Oh, go, go to the theater, live and die in it, if you can …" - Belinsky said prophetically.
VLADIMIR LAGOVSKY
