Source: https://naijauto.com/safe-driving/driving-over-2-hours-reduces-your-iq-43

A 5-year research shows that driving continuously more than 2 hours not only weakens your heart but also lowers your IQ.

The research reached to such conslusion after testing 500,000 Britons from 37 - 73 years of age. And among them, there were 93,000 individuals who spent 2 - 3 hours driving per day.

Researchers also revealed that the brainpower of people in this group was reduced considerably after 5 years. Especially, it is more obvious compared to those who rarely or never drive.

Krishan Bakrania, a medical epidemiologist at the University of Leicester guesses that while driving for hours, the driver’s mind is not active, which might be the reason for this phenomenon. Besides, the normal aging process is also a key factor causing the reducing driver’s IQ.


While driving for hours, the driver’s mind is not active

According to him, cognitive decline can happen quickly in the older and middle-aged people. It can be measured over five years. Moreover, lifestyle of drivers can also affect to their brainpower, especially when they have some bad habits such as unhealthy diet and smoking.

Apart from mental inertia and aging, external factors can be one of the reasons causing mental cognition like stress.

“Driving causes stress and fatigue, with studies showing the links between them and cognitive decline,” Bakrania said.

However, this makes some confused because a study published in Nature showed that driving, especially driving a car, is a complicated activity that helps you exercise your brain:

“Driving is a complex everyday activity that requires multiple types of sensory processing, cost-weighted decision making, precise motor control, and other abilities. Even on an empty road, drivers must continuously operate the steering wheel and pedals in consideration of complicated vehicle dynamics. Driving is also a vigilance task, which is often undertaken for prolonged periods of time, and carries a constant risk of injury or death resulting from collisions…”


Spiritual reinforcement will stop when the drivers do not regularly improve their driving skills

Accordingly, when a person practises a skill such as learning to play the violin or solving a difficult puzzle game, this will create a neural pathway and when he/she drives a vehicle frequently, it is the same as learning. So, in this case, people understand that the brain should be developed in cognition instead of declining while driving.

To clear up the confusion, a research of the Leicester shows that it is truly effective if drivers practise it constantly. This means spiritual reinforcement will stop when the drivers do not regularly improve their driving skills, which usually happens in many middle-aged people. So how can drivers reduce these negative effects?

Researchers advise that using computers every day can improve their cognitive skills and also lessen driving’s negative effects on the brain.

Source: https://naijauto.com/safe-driving/driving-over-2-hours-reduces-your-iq-43

Oh really?!

Driving is stresfull.

I do not know if it really degrades the I.Q but I do pity people living in Ikorodu, Badagry & Sango - going out with their cars everyday & spending minimum of 3hours in the traffic.

Someone once told me they can never live long.