If You’re Feeling Stressed, Science Says ART Could Be The Answer

If you constantly find yourself bogged down by stress, the good news is that you’re not alone. In fact, Singapore is known to have one of the highest stress levels in the world amongst both The fresco atop the Sanctuary of Vicoforte[/caption]

Make Art, Not War

In addition to viewing art, making art has also proven effective in reducing stress levels regardless of one’s creative ability.

A Making art can significantly reduce stress[/caption]

By testing the participants’ cortisol levels before and after the creative exercise, the research found that 75 per cent of participants reported lower cortisol levels regardless of past art experience.

What’s more telling was a consistent correlation between younger participants and reduced cortisol levels, suggesting that art’s ability to decrease stress may greatly benefit younger people.

The study’s author Girija Kaimal offered an explanation for this, hypothesising that older people who have had years of experiencing stress may have developed strategies to cope with stress while younger adults are still figuring out their way through life.

Either way, producing art and delving into creative activity has shown to benefit those undergoing stress regardless of one’s gender or media preference.

With the many health risks associated with stress, it’s important to acknowledge it and to take steps that help relieve pressure.

If you’re feeling stressed out, remember that there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. With the stress-relieving benefits of art, try checking out a nearby gallery or art workshops that might interest you over the weekend, and who knows, you might discover a hidden talent.

If you’re not sure where to start, check out A List Singapore’s

This article was brought to you by A List Singapore.

New Research Says Hitting The Snooze Button Might Actually Benefit The Economy

We all know the feeling. The clock strikes 12 and work starts at 9am the next day, but for some reason rather than winding down, we bargain with ourselves that maybe just a couple of hours wouldn’t make a difference.

We then wake up hitting the snooze button on rounds that leave our parents or roommates wondering if we’d ever leave the bed.

Well it turns out, getting that extra shuteye might actually do a world of good for both yourself and the economy.

[caption id="attachment_2443" align="alignnone" width="3000"] Sleep like a baby, it’s good for the economy[/caption]

Lower productivity, more health risks

In a new study by

These 4 Bad Habits Might Actually Mean You’re Smarter Than The Average Person

In our formative years, educators and parents have long endorsed an image of the ideal person we should grow up to be. Instilling habits such as tidying up after ourselves, sleeping on time and keeping away from the bottle are common practices in raising children.

While we absolutely do not condone encouraging any of the following habits amongst kids, it’s interesting to note the correlation between higher IQs and these “bad” habits.

Here are some bad habits that are linked to a higher-than-average IQ.

1) Drinking

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="450"] via Giphy[/caption]

A study in 2013 found a positive correlation between IQ level and moderate drinking on a regular basis. Interestingly enough, the study also found that individuals who identified as non-drinkers were found to have lower than average IQs.

Other studies have shown that intelligent children are more likely to drink as adults, while another found that individuals with IQ higher than 125 are more prone to drinking more than once a month compared to individuals with IQ levels lower than 75, who drank less than once a year.

2) Staying up late

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480"] via Giphy[/caption]

If you still live with your parents and they give you all kinds of shade for staying up late and waking up at lunchtime, you might have some science to justify yourself.

A study by the via Giphy[/caption]

Swearing, cursing and dropping F-bombs are social taboos in a range of settings like family dinners, business meetings and children birthday parties. But there’s some research to show that they’re not so bad after all.

While many believe that curse words are used because of a lack of vocabulary, a study on  via Giphy[/caption]

According to a study by the University of Minnesota, an untidy desk may actually pose some benefits.

While neat and tidy workspaces encourage good behaviour, messy settings at work or school actually promote creative thinking and the stimulation of new ideas.

The researchers added that disorderly environments have the ability to inspire a break from tradition, encouraging individuals to think outside the box and produce fresh insights.

===

All in all, these habits DO NOT make you smarter, but do have positive correlations with intelligence. So, picking up these habits won’t change your intellect – just saying!

Science Says Playing Dota Might Actually Make You Smarter

If you identify yourself as a gamer, you’ve probably been in a situation where you had to come up with a good reason to your mother, girlfriend or wife as to why playing games is so important.

The best I ever came up with was some gibberish about how first-person shooters improve hand-eye coordination and map-reading skills.

Well, it turns out I wasn’t too far off from reality.

Real-time Strategy games

According to scientists at Queen Mary University of London and University College London (UCL), real-time strategy games can actually help the brain become more agile while improving strategic thinking.

The StarCraft 2 Gameplay[/caption]

Cognitive flexibility tasks

As it turns out, volunteers who played StarCraft, a real-time strategy game which involves the need to memorise tactics and functions, were “quicker and more accurate in performing cognitive flexibility tasks”, compared to their counterparts who played The Sims.

Cognitive flexibility relates to a person’s ability to switch from task to another, a key factor in one’s ability to think outside the box and creatively solve problems.

[caption id="attachment_1693" align="alignnone" width="1024"]
14556635655_ec4fa04907_b Dota 2 Gameplay[/caption]

According to the authors of the research, real-time strategy games such as StarCraft or Dota can improve one’s ability to think on the fly and learn from mistakes.

Additionally, volunteers who played the most difficult version of StarCraft had the best results in the post-game psychological tests.

Further research is required to understand the links between gaming and the positive effect it has on cognitive flexibility, but it’s reassuring to know that all those hours spent on Dota has not been wasted.