This post is sponsored by SmartyPants Vitamins. All opinions on how to be a smarty pants are my own.
Although used as an insult, it’s an insult many of us wouldn’t mind coming our way. I mean, of all the things to be called, smarty pants isn’t all that bad. Nothing like people feeling inferior to you due to your intellectual prowess.
I don’t get called a smarty pants very often (used to when I was in high school), but I happen to be married to someone who I definitely consider a smarty pants. In two years he can even be dubbed Doctor Smarty Pants and someday (hopefully) Professor Smarty Pants.
I guess you could say I know a thing or two about these annoyingly smart people called nerds, intellectuals, brilliant, educated, intelligent, and smart. While not all of these people actually practice the following 10 habits, according to science these 10 things help fine tune your mind so that perhaps someone can call you a smarty pants someday.
Top 10 Traits of Smart People – According to Science
1.) Stay Up Late, Sleep In, and Aren’t Sleep Deprived
According to Psychology Today people who are night owls and sleep in, especially on the weekends, have higher IQs. However, a severe lack of sleep can also start to retard a person’s IQ, even shrinking their brain, causing them to be less alert and less focused, impairing their judgment. If you want to be a smarty pants then go to bed at 12:29am and wake up at 7:52am during the weekday, and go to bed at 1:44am and wake up at 11:07am on the weekends. (Don’t ask me how this is possible with a family though…)
2.) Read Fiction Books
Becoming engrossed in a novel improves your brain’s functioning as you use your imagination, according to a study by Emory University. So smarty pants really are book smart, even if the books are just made up stories. Head to the library and pick up a good fiction book. Or buy one of my favorite novels on Amazon. Or start a book club with friends.
3.) Exercise
Yes, yet another annoyingly good reason to exercise – it improves your memory! According to researchers at Boston University School of Medicine, physical exercise releases hormones called “growth factors” which directly improve your brain health. So if you want to be a smarty pants, then you need to maintain a high level of aerobic activity and fitness.
4.) Don’t Multitask
While multitasking makes us feel awesome because we think we’re maximizing our time by doing 15 things at once (dubbing us Super Woman or Super Man to some) it’s actually making it harder for our brains to do their job. Doing too much at once fatigues our brains as it creates stress and that annoying toxic hormone called cortisol that attacks the memory center of our brain. If you wanna be smart, do one thing at a time.
5.) Put Down Electronic Devices and Head Outdoors
Temporarily cutting yourself off from electronic devices – tablets, phones, computers, laptops, video games, TV, and so on – for just 30 minutes can better your brain health and the break helps you think deeply as you are no longer multitasking and being constantly distracted. If you take a break in nature (aka the great outdoors) even better, as it can give you a mental boost, improve short-term memory, improve your concentration, spark creativity, and release stress too.
6.) Do Crossword Puzzles (and Other Brain Games)
Not only do you have to know a ridiculous amount about a wide variety of topics in order to solve crossword puzzles, but by completing them you increase your vocabulary and enhance problem solving skills and perhaps even ward off dementia. But honestly, completing a crossword puzzles screams that you are in fact a smarty pants, well, as long as you do it without looking up answers on Google.
7.) Major in Smart Fields
While not all brilliant people go to college, the smartest people in college, according to GRE, SAT and other test scores, tend to major in smart fields of study, namely the STEM majors – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics – as opposed to education and agriculture majors. It could simply be because smart people want to earn more money, and these fields of study tend to offer more in compensation.
8.) Seek Wisdom
Truly smart people are smart not simply because of IQ, but because they make smart decisions, learn from their mistakes, surround themselves with other smart people, reason and concede to facts, and willingly admit they don’t know everything. Smart people are humble, self-reliant, above trends and fads, and very resourceful.
True smarty pants are those people that you go to for advice because it’s practical and sound. When you’re done talking to them you may say something like “Ugh! You are so right! I totally need to do that. Why do you always have the best advice?”
Smart is as smart does. Smart people know how to apply their knowledge to real world situations and problems.
9.) Learn All Sorts of New Things
A truly smart person is someone you want on your team when playing Trivial Pursuit because he or she knows a little bit about everything. Smart people are constantly educating themselves on a wide array of topics, from sports to finances to politics to religion. They love being able to pull stored knowledge in order to converse and talk with different people and to offer (educated) opinions on various hot button issues.
10.) Intake Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Known as an essential fatty acid, Omega-3 fatty acids are necessary for human health, specifically playing a crucial role in brain function, growth, and development, and even reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, and arthritis. However, Omega-3 fatty acids are not something our body actually makes on its own: you have to eat them. They are found in fish like salmon, mackerel, lake trout, sardines, tuna, halibut, algae, and krill as well as some plants and nut oils. Smart people consume Omega-3 fatty acids so they don’t experience as much fatigue or memory loss (among other things).
SmartyPants Vitamins Review
A super smart way to ensure you get those Omega-3 fatty acids in your diet is by eating SmartyPants Vitamins. SmartyPants Vitamins are delicious gummy vitamins made in California with the best, eco-friendly, non-GMO ingredients from around the world. Their products are free of synthetic colors, artificial flavors, preservatives and sweeteners, gluten, yeast, wheat, dairy, eggs, soy, tree nuts, peanuts, fish allergens, shellfish, and salicylates (whatever those are). The fish oil found in all of their vitamins come from anchovy and sardine from sustainable fisheries.
Our family has tried different varieties of their gummy vitamins, and all of them are delicious (the Prenatal ones are the best tasting in my opinion). Because you take more than two gummies at a time (kids take four at once; adults get to take six! Woo hoo!) the traditional fishy taste of fish oil (which is included in all of their products) is dispersed between them so you don’t even taste fish (which my husband and I greatly appreciate).
It’s amazing, because they really seem to understand Mary Poppins and her “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine goes down” idea. Some of their vitamins (like the Men’s and Prenatal) are dusted with sugar crystals on the outside. Apparently sugar helps activate your digestive system, which means you don’t have to eat food when you take them.
What really makes SmartyPants Vitamins different from other supplements is that they include more of the vitamins and nutrients you need in one bottle with no need to supplement with fish oil pills!
They offer the following products: Women’s Complete, Men’s Complete, PreNatal, Adult Complete, Adult Complete and Fiber, Kids Complete, and Kids Complete and Fiber.
You can find SmartyPants vitamins online at Amazon, or in store at Whole Foods, CVS, Walgreens, GNC, Target, Sprouts, the Vitamin Shoppe, Costco, and H-E-B.
The price per bottle ranges from about $13-35 a bottle, but some bottles are less than a 30 day supply, due to the fact that you need to consume 4 (kids) or 6 (adults) at a time. They also offer some On-The-Go packs so you can easily grab a pack on your way out the door or pack it with a lunch.
SmartyPants Vitamins Giveaway {ENDED}
One lucky person will win three bottles of SmartyPants Vitamins: Men’s, Women’s, and Kids, because we want the whole family to be a bunch of smarty pants, don’t we? Enter in the Rafflecopter Giveaway widget for your chance to win! Best of luck!
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Chelsea @ Life With My Littles says
Despite the fact that I am commenting on this at 11 at night, I am usually super good at going to bed on time!! These are awesome tips!!
Vera K says
I play 7 Little Words every morning.
Ashley Roth says
I love playing puzzle games, my favorite is Sudoku. Also my major falls in the STEM category. 🙂
Rust says
I do crossword puzzles and read a whole lot. I also went back to school at 46 and got a masters, tough at that age.