Simple ways to make yourself far cleverer

Doing 'brain exercises' such as watching Countdown, playing Sudoku or
taking a shower with your eyes closed can make us all up to 40 per
cent cleverer within seven days, according to research by a BBC
programme this week

Denis Campbell, social affairs correspondent
Sunday March 5, 2006
The Observer
Saturday

Brush your teeth with your 'wrong' hand and take a shower with your
eyes closed.

Sunday

Do the crossword or Sudoku puzzle in your Sunday paper and take a
brisk walk.

Monday

Have oily fish for dinner, and either cycle, walk or take the bus into
work.

Tuesday

Select unfamiliar words from the dictionary and work them into
conversations.

Wednesday

Go to yoga, Pilates or a meditation class, and talk to someone you
don't know.

Thursday

Take a different route to work; watch Countdown or Brainteaser.

Friday

Avoid caffeine or alcohol; memorise your shopping list.

It is not an intelligence-boosting formula likely to impress an
Oxbridge don: watching Countdown, playing Sudoku, remembering
telephone numbers and taking a shower with your eyes closed.
Yet doing 'brain exercises' such as these can make us all up to 40 per
cent cleverer within seven days, according to research by a BBC
programme this week.

The tests conducted for Get Smarter in a Week appear to bear out the
growing belief among scientists that making simple changes to our
lifestyle can lead to significant improvements in how well our brains
function.

The programme found that a combination of techniques based on healthy
eating, physical activity, sound sleep and stimulating your mind
through solving puzzles and remembering lists makes people sharper,
more confident and better at making decisions.

The usefulness of such methods will be tested on 100 volunteers from
around the UK in an experiment that will get two hours of prime time
television on BBC1 on Saturday night. 'IQ has traditionally been
thought of as a fixed measure of someone's intelligence,' said Philip
Morrow, the show's executive producer.