Improving intelligence... ideas?

[Doggystyle]

Does any one have any good ways or techniques to improve the memory and be able to think quicker?

I think of myself as a pretty intelligent person, have a fairly good memory and can think quite quickly.....ish i suppose. But want to try and improve on this.

The ways i can think of to increase memory and the ability to think quicker are:

Reading books
Using your brain to solve problems and studying (Challenging your self)
Exercise (improve circulation to the brain)
Being well rested

So does anyone have any more techniques i.e. visualisation techniques? would affirmations help? if so what? hypnosis? what shouldn't i be doing? is watching TV that bad? Any books to read on this subject? is this too many questions???

Cheers!

 

[THE_ADDMAN]

I read a book on this. mental fitness or something like that
it had some solid advice:
change your routine, try doing new things, or old things in new ways.

example: try taking a new route to work, just to see what is new on that route. try brushing ur teeth with ur opposite hand. another one is to interact with things in ways that you normally wouldnt interact with them. one I use is that I always smell my food thoroughly before I eat it. your brain has a directory of every object you've interacted with. by interacting with it in different ways, you add new information to that directory. with new information comes new or reinforced neural connections. or things you look at, try touching it and really noticing the texture and how it feels on your fingertips (within reason. I aint talkin bout tits )
you might note that something feels like something else that is totally unrelated, which means you've established a new neural connection.

sex is a good example too. use other senses that you dont normally use, or use them in new ways.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Television rots your brain. Even the science shows move at a pace more slowly than what you could read in a book or on the Internet. TV is dumbed-down and void of complex issues, so avoiding it will stimulate your mind more, thus making you a little smarter in comparison.

 

[wrender]

Reading books is always a good way to exercise the brain. Particualrly non-fiction. Also I've been playing Othello lately Chess, Stratego, and other strategy games should do you good as well.

http://www.ugosweb.com/Games/OthelloApp.shtml

 

[backbreaker]

try reading a book or two. something that I used to do that i still do from time to time believe it or not that is ovbiously fun is play really really hard video games, games that actually required me to do some type of real problem solving, no guides, no cheats, nothing. Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid both to me fall in this catorogy.

learn a new word a day
learn something new everyday in general, I visit wikipedia.com everyday and read a new article, today I read something on the Fierce Snake, which is the most posionous snake in the world, which I didn't know until today.

it comes down to people who use their brains instead of letting them rott are smarter, same as exercise.. people in shape have something in common... they use their muscles instead of letting them go to waste

 

[Scrumtulescence]

something that I used to do that i still do from time to time believe it or not that is ovbiously fun is play really really hard video games, games that actually required me to do some type of real problem solving, no guides, no cheats, nothing. Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid both to me fall in this catorogy.

:crackup:

 

[mpimpin]

Stratego, Risk and Othello and even Scrabble........Definetely GREAT games to exercise the mind!!

 

[Migel]

Change your diet. Certain foods cause you to think slower ( look cows ). I'm not an expert, maybe somebody knows more about what to eat to be a faster thinker?

 

[manuva]

Certainly fish oils (OMEGA-3) have been shown to enhance brain power by improving neural connections.

Slamming down 6 or 8 of those a day has been shown to enhance concentration, reflexes, memory... lots of stuff.

It's also been shown to reduce ADD in children and even increase the amount of homework school children do.

 

[Lopage]

Try chess, risk and other board games or even card games if you train your mind to account for all the probabilities and stuff.

 

[Unregistered]

Don't just read - think about what you're reading. Try to apply it to your life ,etc.