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It'd be nice to think that IQ is not a big determining factor for how successful and happy we are in life.
But not so, several studies will say.
One study by the University of Delaware found that contrary to popular belief, the higher your IQ, the more likely you are socially smart.
Another study, this time Swedish, has drawn a link between lower IQ scores and suicidal feelings, hypothesising that lower IQs mean poorer problem solving abilities, and thus a diminished ability in dealing with stress in difficult situations.
And while genetics make up an estimated 40 to 80 per cent of a person's IQ, there are a number of factors that determine how smart you are, or how dumb you get.
Most people would readily agree that getting a knock to the head would knock some points off their IQ as well, but what if you were told that your daily junk food habit is not only making you fat, it's making you stupid?
And that those people who spend hours and hours holding long, pointless meetings are not only lacking in EQ, they are probably lacking in IQ as well?
Here are some of the reasons why some people are dumber than they should be:
Long meetings not only waste your time, they are a brain drain
His study found that people perform less well on IQ tests directly after spending time in small social groups than they did when they were alone.
Being around the fairer sex
In 2009, a study demonstrated that after a short interaction with an attractive woman, men displayed poorer performance in mental tasks. The more beautiful the woman, the stronger the effect.
Jetlag gives you permanent brain damage
A study conducted to investigate the effect of flying on Indian male and female flight attendants (FAs) found that a whopping 67.47 per cent of FAs who fly more than 10 years suffer from memory loss.
The paper, published in 2007, found that stress, loss of memory and headaches appeared to share the same etiology such as hypoxia (the deprivation of adequate oxygen supply to body parts), jetlag and irregular sleep.
Getting spanked by your mom
Mothers beware: Sparing the rod may spoil the child, but spank your children and you risk giving them long-term developmental damage.
Being fat makes you mentally slow
A study has found that children three years old and younger who stuff themselves with foods high in fats, sugars and processed foods grow up to have a lower IQ, while those who eat a healthy diet end up as smarter adults.
Living in a bustling city
Researchers from the University of Michigan found that just being in an urban environment can impair our basic mental processes.
After spending just a few minutes in a crowded city street, your memory capabilities are affected and the mind suffers from a drop in self-control.
Are you the older or younger sibling ?
Several studies have found that firstborn children score higher on IQ tests than their younger siblings - a fact backed-up by history, where most Nobel Prize winners and US presidents are firstborns.
Breastfeeding can increase a child's IQ by 3 to 8 points
In a 2011 study from the UK, kids who were breastfed as babies had higher scores on tests of vocabulary and reasoning at age five than those who weren't breastfed.
"There are essential fatty acids in breast milk which are good for cell development and brain development in particular," said Amanda Sacker, one of the authors of the new study from the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex.
According to research done by the University of New Hampshire, children who are spanked have lower IQs worldwide.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that mothers exclusively breast feed their babies for the first six months of their lives, and continue to do so until at least two years of age.
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