5 Hobbies That Can Make You Smarter (Infographic)Come and play. Growing your gray matter doesn't have to be boring.

ByKim Lachance Shandrow

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

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你的紧张achers were right: Your brain is like a muscle. To make it smarter, all you need to do is lift intellectual weights -- and often.

Studies show that regularly exercising our minds with challenging new stimuli -- not endless hours ofKeeping Up With the Kardashians-- increases IQ. It's true. When you learn something new, you grow your gray matter. It's not rocket science.

Sure, crossword puzzles and sudoku are brilliant ways to sharpen your intellect andexpand your neuroplasticity,但他们远离这里唯一的选择。其他r, less ho hum hobbies, like working out, for example, are also proven to spur your smarts. In fact, breaking a sweat improves not only your physique, but also your long-term memory and object recognition memory. Think about that next time you hit the gym.

Related:You Have the Power to Rewire Your Brain for More Joy

Believe it or not, playing video games is another fun, engaging way to boost your brainpower. I know. The hover mom in me didn't want to believe it either. Despite their bad rap, and please don't tell my tweens and teen this, gaming for 30 minutes a day has been shown to enrich your brain's strategic planning, spatial navigation, motor skills and more. Fine, go ahead. Game on, just not too much, okay?

For more brain-feeding activities you can do to get smarter, feast your mind on the bright infographic below, care ofProEssayWriter.net.

Click to Enlarge+
5 Hobbies That Can Make You Smarter (Infographic)

Related:This Is Your Brain on Not Enough Sleep (Infographic)

Kim Lachance Shandrow

Former West Coast Editor

Kim Lachance Shandrow is the former West Coast editor at Entrepreneur.com. Previously, she was a commerce columnist atLos Angeles CityBeat,a news producer at MSNBC and KNBC in Los Angeles and a frequent contributor to theLos Angeles Times. She has also written forGovernment Technologymagazine,LA Yogamagazine, theLowell Sunnewspaper, HealthCentral.com, PsychCentral.com and the former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Coop. Follow her on Twitter at@Lashandrow. You can also follow her on Facebookhere.

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