Careful, we’re losing our minds
Intelligence drop worries scientists
According to experts, everything from our gadgets to our eating habits and ultimately modern life itself are eroding our brains, and making us slower, denser and less capable of original thought. Scientists are now raising concerns that for the last decade, IQ scores have not just been levelling out but declining, and our collective intelligence has dropped by one IQ point in the last 50 years.
Here are some of the surprising ways you could be ruining your brain: HIGH-FAT FEASTING
Consuming large amounts of soggy saturated fats (bacon, buttery toast and fried eggs), hamper the brain’s dopamine function, a vital neurotransmitter responsible for motivation. A University of Montreal study found that high-fat feeding can cause “impairments in the functioning of the brain circuitry profoundly implicated in mood disorders, drug addiction, and overeating.” JUGGLING TOO MANY BALLS AT ONCE
Earl Miller, an expert on divided attention and a neuroscientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology says: “The brain is not wired to multitask. When people think they’re multitasking, they’re actually just switching from one task to another very rapidly, and every time they do, there’s a cognitive cost.
“Multitasking prevents deep, creative thought as we switch back and forth, backtracking. ... As a result, thoughts are less new and more superficial,” says Miller. JUST GOOGLING IT
Having unlimited information available all the time is both a blessing and a neurological curse. Being able to Google addresses, phone numbers, recipes, names, and events, means we no longer rely on memory. The brain’s hippocampus deals with processing new memories. For example, research by Columbia University showed we are now more likely to recall where we save information rather than the information itself, and Microsoft says our attention spans have suffered, falling from an average of 12 seconds 15 years ago to eight now. THOSE REALITY TV BINGES
Our long-held suspicion that reality TV is rotting our brains may well be correct. An Austrian study by psychologist Markus Appel, involved showing 81 participants a fake reality-like screenplay based around what a soccer hooligan got up to during a day, then asked them to take a general knowledge test. Those who had seen the reality show beforehand fared worse then those who had not. Appel blamed media priming — the idea that what we watch, see and listen to influences our behaviour — and claimed it extended to cognitive performance, too. HAVING YOUR FRUIT AND EATING IT
A 2012 UCLA study on rats showed that too much fructose — a simple sugar found in fruits, honey and vegetables — effectively slowed the brain by affecting insulin’s ability to help brain cells convert sugar into energy for thought. Eating omega-3 fatty acids (flaxseed oil, mackerel, herring and trout), counteracted this mental disruption by protecting against damage to the synapses, the chemical pathways in the brain. Dr. Sarah Brewer, a medical nutritionist, warns: “Brain cells need glucose to function but too much in a short time will cause a sugar rush and make you feel over wired.” JET LAG AND OTHER SLEEP DISRUPTIONS
Jet lag’s dulling effects can last for weeks. Studies on hamsters found that regular disruption to our internal circadian rhythm halved the normal rate of new neuron birth in the hippocampus and the effects were still noticeable after a month.”
The hamsters’ learning ability plummeted too.
Prof. Lance Kriegsfeld from the University of California at Berkeley said: “What this reveals is that, whether you are a flight attendant, medical resident, or rotating shift worker, repeated disruption of circadian rhythms is likely going to have a long-term impact on your cognitive behaviour and function.” WALKING AND CHEWING GUM
Not too long ago, we thought chewing gum was a good thing, neurologically speaking.
But a recent experiment suggests the act of chewing distracted participants from short memory tasks such as learning the order of items on a list.
Sarah Brewer says: “When people chew gum for hours, it may cause a problem with distraction. As soon as the flavour, goes I’d recommend taking it out.”