Struggling to find the motivation to get off your butt and into the gym?
Behold, your new go-to excuse. According to research from the Journal Health of Psychology, people with higher IQ’s are more likely to be lazy than those of us who are always active.
The reason? They get bored less easily, which in turn, means they require less mental stimulation.
Researchers from the Florida Gulf Coast University gave a test called the Need For Cognition to a group of students, with the intention of finding 30 participants who were prone to thinking a lot and 30 who actively avoided tasks they considered mentally taxing.
As part of the test, the students were asked to rate how strongly they agreed with certain statements. These included: “I really enjoy a task that involves coming up with new solutions to problems,” and “I only think as hard as I have to.”
They were then given an accelerometer to wear that measured how physically active they were over the span of a week. The results showed that the group of “thinkers” were “far less active” during this duration than the “non-thinkers.”
“Ultimately, an important factor that may help more thoughtful individuals combat their lower average activity levels is awareness,” the study’s lead author Todd McElroy explained.
“Awareness of their tendency to be less active, coupled with an awareness of the cost associated with inactivity, more thoughtful people may then choose to become more active throughout the day.”
This article was originally published on Women’s Health Australia
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