Lazy people are smarter

Many people would easily identify as lazy, but intelligence is somewhat more difficult to measure. and, although each one may have had an idea of ​​what her intellectual level is, it is difficult to have references on this without resorting to the IQ tests.

However, a recent study has found a link between these two dimensions of our mind. Specific, it has been observed that the most intelligent people are also the most prone to lazing around on weekdays.

So while excessive loafing might lead to isolation and therefore diminished ability to think on your feet, keeping still and without apparently doing much can be an indication that we like to spend time and effort to squeeze our intelligence.

The smart ones are less active

This research, led by Todd McElroy from Florida Gulf Coast University and published in Journal of Health Psychology, points out that people who show a greater need to perform cognitively stimulating tasks and Motivators spend less time than others on tasks that require activities physical.

The need to engage in cognitively stimulating tasks, which is related to the level of intelligence, gives an idea of ​​the way in which that we tend to stay mentally active by participating in novel tasks, which are challenging and move away from monotony and repetitiveness.

Why is this happening? The key is in the cognitive challenge

This discovery is related to the idea that challenges and hobbies that occur only in Our brain and they are not based on carrying out physical activities (understood as tasks for which it is necessary to use various muscle groups, because thinking it is also, after all, a physical process) are such an exhilarating hobby and task that people used to them do not need to move too much.

So, this research serves to reinforce the idea that smarter people are not as prone to boredom like the others, since they tend to take advantage of the moments in which they do not exercise physical efforts to think, reflect, perform mental exercises... etc On the other hand, people who do not stand out especially for their intelligence would have more reasons to seek entertainment in direct interaction with their environment.

How was the research carried out?

These researchers from Florida Gulf Coast University relied on the use of tests to obtain information on a series of volunteers. Among the questions on the tests were several designed to explore each person's tendency toward engaging in cognitively demanding activities.

For example, these people had to say whether they more or less agreed with statements such as "I really enjoy finding new solutions to problems."

From these data, the researchers selected 30 of the people most likely to exercise their cognitive abilities and another 30 who presented the opposite characteristic, and they all placed a device in the doll. This bracelet was used to track their movements and issue data about their activity levels, and this information was collected over several days.

The results

People less likely to tackle cognitively demanding tasks moved more and they showed significantly higher levels of physical activation than the others, but, curiously, this difference only appeared from Monday to Friday. During the weekends, this difference tended to disappear.

This last piece of information has not yet been explained, so if this point is to be clarified, it will be necessary to carry out more research on this subject.