13 Things You Can Do Daily to be Smarter, Healthier and Happier

Socialize, drink water, get more sleep, play music, exercise. It’s a better way to live. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. We all want to be smarter and healthier. Not surprisingly, a strong mind and a healthy body are fundamentally linked. Our mental processes can affect our physical state, and the reverse is also true. Finding ways to build and support both our minds and our bodies is crucial to reaching our goals, and to increasing our overall happiness , success and feelings of well-being. But no one becomes smarter or healthier overnight. It takes time and genuine commitment. Start working toward building a robust mind and body with these 13 daily challenges that will test your limits and push you to be your absolute best. 1. Increase brain plasticity by playing an instrument. Research suggests that regularly playing a musical instrument changes the shape and power of the brain, and may improve cognitive skills. It has been shown to increase IQ by seven points in both children and adults. Learning to play an instrument increases the plasticity of the brain. Musicians’ brains are structurally and functionally different from those of non-musicians. For instance, the parts of the brain that control motor skills, hearing, storing audio information and memory become larger and more active when a person learns how to play an instrument. Playing an instrument has also been shown to increase alertness and emotional perception. 2. Stay sharp by reading books. Studies show that reading books , no matter the type, increases your language comprehension and vocabulary, and boosts brain activity. Reading has been shown to help you stay sharp, and reading fiction in particular has been linked to increased empathy , emotional intelligence and social support. Research published in the Journal of the American Academy […]

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