Give yourself the best education you can. While genes answer for about 80 percent of your intelligence, education plays the next biggest role. Develop hobbies like reading and solving crossword puzzles, logic problems and jigsaw puzzles. Enroll in continuing education courses. Make it a priority to learn at least one new thing every day.
Eat like a smart person. A balanced diet helps stabilize your brain chemistry, which in turn makes you think more efficiently. Certain foods stand out as having the most powerful brain-boosting effects: fish, which increases the speed of your brain waves, and caffeine, which speeds up your synapses and can improve your short-term memory.
Get plenty of quality sleep. Studies have shown that your brain remains very active while you sleep, processing short-term memories and filing them away into long-term storage, as well as performing other routine maintenance. Aim for seven to eight hours of sleep every night to give your brain the time it needs to stay organized.
Limit your consumption of alcohol and other intoxicants. The buzz you feel from drinking alcohol is actually the result of dying brain cells, which never grow back.
Have a baby. Unfortunately, guys, this one doesn't apply to you. Studies have shown that a woman's perception, memory, ability to do multiple activities at once and capacity for learning all improve with pregnancy and childbirth. The hormone oxytocin, which floods the brain during labor, has measurable affects on problem solving, which is a key component of IQ.
Listen to classical music. Numerous studies have shown that the brain's spatial IQ improves for 10 to 15 minutes after listening to classical music, which generally resembles brain waves in rhythm and timing. However, this so-called Mozart Effect is highly controversial and has its share of skeptics. The bottom line is, listening to classical music probably won't make you any less intelligent, but it also may not have long-term effects on your IQ.