Mental Health News and Updates 2016: Lazy People, Cheer Up; Research Shows Inactivity Linked to High Intelligence
A study shows boredom to intellect-demanding tasks has a great connection with higher physical activity rate
Florida Gulf Coast University recently released the result of a research connecting inactivity with high IQ. In this study, researchers were able to conclude that intelligent people enjoys being alone with their thoughts and doing intellectual endeavors (such as reading) rather than doing strenuous physical activities.
Researchers connect laziness to intelligence
The research also implied that those who have average IQ are likely to get bored easily than those with higher intelligence.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The researchers behind this study, led by Todd McElroy, used extensive exams which challenge the respondents' tolerance to high-level thinking and mental works.
Right after doing this examination, the researchers looked into these participants' bodily activities for the whole week.
In a television interview, McElroy adds how they have come up with their selection of respondents. The participants were told to wear a device which measures their physical activities in every thirty seconds. Those who were part of the experiment had to wear the device for over seven days.
The result showed those with higher count of physical actions done during weekdays were those who are inclined with avoiding mentally-taxing undertaking.
However, there was a very notable and interesting result about the activities done by both parties during weekends. Both groups - the highly intellectual and exceedingly physical ones - recorded no difference in the kind of physical activity they do during the weekend. Researchers are yet to find out the reasons behind this.
High Physical Activity = Low Interest in Mentally-demanding Tasks
McElroy told Telegraph that it is a very important to understand the correlation of both physical and mental activities to bring "awareness of [our tendencies] to become less active, [and] the cost associated with inactivity."
Although this may be remarked as a milestone in the study on the relationship between inactivity and intelligence, McElroy finishes his statement by saying that no one should generalize the findings yet as it only involved a very small number of participants.
Based on this study, the anchor on this video by RT America starts with a remark that "the smarter you are, the less likely you'll get bored."
