It Is Written Script: 1361 Becoming a Smarter You (Nedley) Page 1 Becoming a Smarter You Program No. 1361 SPEAKER: JOHN BRADSHAW IIW 1361 JB: The Bible says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. When you consider the human body, the human mind, the body is a masterpiece of creation. Perhaps it was God s most outstanding work, and when you look at the body, the center, or the nerve center, is the brain. We all have one. Some of us use it to some effect, and some, we might want to do a little bit better. My guest today, special guest, is Dr. Neil Nedley. He s the president of Nedley Health Solutions. Dr. Nedley, thanks for joining me today. NN: Thank you. Great to be here. JB: Now often, we talk about the brain in terms of IQ. Some a little higher, some a little lower. NN: Yes. JB: Let s explore this a bit today. Tell me first, what is IQ? NN: Well, IQ can be explained very simply. It s our capacity to learn, retain and apply knowledge. Sounds pretty simple, but there s a lot to learning and retaining as well as our ability to apply. JB: Now, we talk about IQ tests. You know, we ve probably all taken an IQ test from time to time. How do you measure IQ? NN: Some people might have a very low IQ, and actually score very high on an IQ test because they re good at test taking. And then there are other individuals who would be very low on an IQ score but yet they re actually brilliant individuals. But for 80 percent of us they re a fairly accurate rendition of our actual capacity, at that time, to learn, retain and apply knowledge. JB: Let s talk about intelligence, how that affects a person in practical terms.
It Is Written Script: 1361 Becoming a Smarter You (Nedley) Page 2 NN: Well, in practical terms there s actually significant benefits. First of all, if you are in school, you can be a lot more efficient in studying. That means that you can live a more balanced life, even though you re in an academically rigorous program. Also, studies show that you re more logical, you re more persuasive, you have greater influence as a result of that, and if this is a priority of yours, you re more likely to become wealthy. In addition, you actually live longer. We now know that people with higher intelligence, in general, live significantly longer than people with lower intelligence. JB: There s a difference, isn t there, between intelligence and common sense. NN: Well, there is. People with higher intelligence actually do have higher common sense. But you know, just because you weren t at the top of your class doesn t mean necessarily that you weren t intelligent. Academic standing is not necessarily related to intelligence. In other words, there may be very bright people in the classroom who don t do well in school, and the other way around can happen. And of course that has to do more with motivation at the time that you re in school. JB: Are there myths about intelligence? Are there some challenges to what we accept as the standards on the subject? NN: There are myths because a lot of people assume that if you re highly intelligent you re very irritating to be around. It is true, some people that are highly intelligent are very irritating to be around, but actually they re no more or less irritating than people of average or lower intelligence. How enjoyable we are to be around has more to do with our emotional intelligence than our general intelligence. And so, if you happen have both, you can be a very enjoyable person to be around even though you have high IQ. JB: What can you do about your intelligence? Can you improve it? NN: Well, one of the myths is that genetics is all that matters. Your lifestyle practices and the environment that you choose to surround yourself with actually has much more to do with your intelligence, and your ability to develop a much higher IQ, as you were asking, than your genetics. JB: What do those numbers mean? NN: Yeah, 100 is your average IQ. And for every 10 points it s a standard deviation. So if you re 90, you re almost in the bottom third of the nation. If you re 110, you re almost in the top third of the nation. 120, you d be in the top 20 percentile of the nation. 130, you d be getting close to the top 5 percentile of the nation. 140, you d be up there at the 1 percentile. JB: What s a genius? NN: 160 is a genius in anyone s book, cause you re 1 out of 1,000 people, as far as your ability to learn, retain and apply knowledge. So, those people are absolutely brilliant.
It Is Written Script: 1361 Becoming a Smarter You (Nedley) Page 3 JB: This becomes important, too, when I think about my role as a father. I have a couple of children I would like to see do very well in this world. NN: Yes. JB: And, one would expect, understanding that intelligence isn t the only factor that s going to help a child progress, but one would expect the sharper we can help them be-- NN: Absolutely. JB: --the better they re going to do in this world. NN: Absolutely. JB: Let s go back and talk about people who have improved their intelligence. Have you got some examples? NN: Oh yes, absolutely. We had an individual who came to us, IQ of 80. This individual had gone from one grade to another in a public high school system, without actually passing. And, he was a nice guy. You know, he was liked. But he just didn t have it. He actually came to our restaurant. And he changed his diet some, and he started to get interested in things of the Bible, and he actually changed his life. Became a converted individual. And the owner of the restaurant, which isn t me, but the owner of the restaurant recommended he go to college to become a Bible worker. And at the end I talked to him, and he said he barely made it. You know, we actually got him up there and he wasn t the last in his class, and he s starting to do a little better. Well, he worked as a Bible worker for a couple of years and he came back to the restaurant. I happened to be eating there. And he says, You know, Dr. Nedley, I think I d be more effective as a physician. What do you think about me being a doctor? And I ll just have to tell you, I smiled and I said, You know, being a physician is not for everybody. It s something that, it may be nice. But then I thought, You know, I can t say for sure that it wouldn t be for you, but you would definitely have to improve your capacity to learn, retain and apply knowledge. And so, he said, I m all in. Fortunately, Les had what we call emotional intelligence, which is a tremendous amount of motivation. And that s one of the things you have to have, if you want to really improve your IQ. JB: I want to find out what happened to this gentleman. We ll do that in just a moment. How can somebody below average turn around and embrace the idea of being a physician? This is important. How can we sharpen what we have, how can we take the
It Is Written Script: 1361 Becoming a Smarter You (Nedley) Page 4 gifts that we seem to naturally have been given by God, and bring them back to God and say, Lord, you gave me two talents but I multiplied them. We ll find out in just a moment. EVERY WORD JB: It s one thing to read the Bible, another thing to stop and consider what it says and take that seriously. Here s a verse that s a little challenging, actually. Philippians 4:6 says, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made know to God. Now, if I asked you if you believe Philippians 4:6, you d say, sure I do. But if I ask you if you re anxious for nothing, it might be a different story. And why is that? If you can trust God, you can have certainty that He s got your situation in hand. He s got your back. He knows what you re going through, and He s going to take care of you. Now, that takes some faith, but if you can learn to trust God in those moments when you re tempted to be anxious, you ll see your faith in God will grow, and God will always come through. I m John Bradshaw for It Is Written. Let s live today by every word. RETURN TO PROGRAM JB: We began talking a few moments ago about somebody who was, you said had an IQ of about 80. Various things happened in this individual s life. He is now talking about becoming a physician. Tell me, what happened? NN: Well, it took some time, but I broke down to him the ways in which you can improve your intelligence, and a lot of it had to do with lifestyle things and nutritional things, and things that he s surrounding himself with. And he was all in. And, I had him work on that for about a year, and then he said, Okay, I m going to pre-med. Going to the University of Oklahoma. And he was taking now hard sciences. And he was struggling, of course, because he hadn t--remember, this guy hadn t really learned anything in high school, and he hadn t really taken any pre-work, and so his first grade in biology and chemistry was a C+. And the next semester he had gotten it up to a B+. And then, as he was advancing further he started getting A- and then, pretty soon, he was ready for his MCAT and he scored well enough. And his IQ went from 80 to over 120. But his story is not necessarily unique. If you remember, Ben Carson was at the bottom of his class. JB: Dr. Ben Carson, world famous neurosurgeon. Thought to be not intelligent. Actually hated poverty and was kind of an emotional and intellectual wreck. And his mother came home and said, No TV, Ben. And not only that, you re going to write a book report. Take out not a novel book but an educational book. Two books, and write a book report before you get any privileges around here. Then, he also began to listen to music--that also enhances the brain. Within a year he went from the bottom of the class to the top of the class. And he tells a story. He said he no longer hated poverty at that point. He still was dirt poor, and the family was, but he
It Is Written Script: 1361 Becoming a Smarter You (Nedley) Page 5 knew poverty was temporary. Not only did he become a physician, he became a top neurosurgeon in the country, doing things that no other neurosurgeon had ever done. We are endowed and created with wonderful brains. You know, this two-and-a-halfpound organ that we re all carrying has capacity for improvement, really in all of us. Unless you re totally lacking a lobe of your brain. You know, there are some kids that are born without frontal lobes, for instance, where there are severe genetic problems and mutations. But if you have a brain where you can do things, like most other human beings, you have a brain that can dramatically improve. JB: So a lot of people are, and if I just use the phrase, without wanting to be crass, a lot of people are dumbing themselves down. NN: Exactly. JB: What are some of the things that people do to themselves that hurt themselves and degrade their intelligence? NN: Well, the frontal lobe of the brain is kind of where intelligence all comes together. It s to be the control center of the brain. And there are simple things that people do to suppress their frontal lobe. Alcohol, drugs, you know, even, a lot of people are not aware of it caffeine actually will lower the circulation of the frontal lobe of the brain. NFL quarterbacks are now told to consume zero caffeine. And it s not their athletic ability that s the most important. It s their decision-making ability. And so, there is a lot of simple things we can do to enhance our brains and produce a positive benefit. JB: That s a lot of the population. Caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, drugs. JB: Marijuana becoming legal. NN: The largest study showed that marijuana actually, when you use it regularly, permanently lowers IQ. Not only that, it lowers motivation to levels that are at the bottom of the scale, as far as emotional intelligence and motivation. JB: Tell me a little bit about the structure of the brain--a little--but particularly in relation to intelligence. NN: Okay. Well, where the ear is at, above the ear is the temporal lobe. That s actually where our memory is, so our verbal and declarative memory actually is there in the side of the brain. In the middle portion of the brain is the parietal lobe. That s where our vocabulary intelligence, it s actually where our mathematical ability is centered. In the back of the brain is where our visual-spatial orientation is, another thing that has to do with intelligence. In the back bottom of the brain is where our athletic intelligence comes from, our ability to perform things gracefully and with ease athletically. And then the
It Is Written Script: 1361 Becoming a Smarter You (Nedley) Page 6 frontal lobe of the brain is the area where spirituality, morality and the will is centered. But on top of that, it s where our analysis is, as well. And so, our ability to make good decisions is actually right there in the front portion of the brain. JB: You can negatively affect this front part of the brain. NN: Absolutely. JB: It s a little bit like this, surely. If I want to run a marathon, I want to be physically fit. Or, if I want to be able to walk home from school or simply function well, I want to be physically fit. And so I know that breakfast at the fast food restaurant every day, and being a couch potato, isn t going to help me become physically fit. We understand that. Pretty well everybody knows it. JB: But, in just the same way there are things you can do to enhance your frontal lobe. NN: Correct. JB: Not everybody knows that. JB: Tell me more. NN: Well, you know, it s not just exercising the frontal lobe. You know, we think, well, to do a marathon we have to exercise, but you know the good nutrition part is important, and a lot of other lifestyle components, if we re really going to have the competitive edge. And the same is true with the frontal lobe. Yes, we do need to exercise it, but in addition we need to feed it right. So nutrition is critically important. We need to entertain it right, as well, because some forms of entertainment are going to dramatically suppress this area of the brain. And there s a lot of factors involved. JB: And what strikes me as very important is that our spiritual development is likewise centered in the frontal lobe. NN: Exactly. JB: That s extremely important. How can we learn to thrive spiritually? How can we look after our brains in such a way that we re more apt to hear the voice of God, have a more vital spiritual relationship and, ultimately, spend eternity with God? Let s walk through some of the things that damage frontal lobe capacity. NN: Well, adverse drugs, recreational drugs in general, all suppress the frontal lobe.
It Is Written Script: 1361 Becoming a Smarter You (Nedley) Page 7 JB: What do they do? NN: They lower IQ and they lower EQ. And emotional intelligence is also the frontal part of the brain. Our motivational area actually comes from the frontal lobe of the brain. JB: Not hard to imagine chemicals doing something bad to the brain. NN: Yeah, and they rev up the limbic system. So they imbalance the brain by having the emotional part of the brain be much more overriding than the control center of the brain. And thus people on these drugs are managed by their emotions instead of being able to manage their emotions. JB: We know alcohol is not good. NN: No. JB: But now, now somebody s sitting today thinking, wait a minute. It s not just, well, I think it s okay to have an occasional this or that. Now, this affects my relationship with God. NN: Correct. JB: By suppressing frontal lobe function. How does alcohol do that? NN: Well, alcohol actually impairs the frontal lobe before it affects even the coordination system. So, our judgment goes down first. And you know, baseball players have kind of mocked alcohol a little bit, because it turns out, under the influence of alcohol they can still, if they re skilled at doing so, hit a curve ball out of the baseball park. That s how good their coordination is. If they re just at the legal limit, for instance, or just had a drink or two. But studies show they are 10 times as likely to get into an automobile accident, when they go out. And it s not because of their coordination, it s because of their judgment. JB: Alcohol affects judgment. NN: Yes. JB: In a relationship with God. NN: Yeah, absolutely, JB: You ve got to have good judgment. NN: You ve got to have good judgment. JB: Nicotine must be the same.
It Is Written Script: 1361 Becoming a Smarter You (Nedley) Page 8 NN: Nicotine has a more subtle effect, but it also suppresses the frontal lobe of the brain. JB: You mentioned entertainment? NN: Entertainment. JB: Now, now, this affects us. NN: Yes. JB: I mean, people, everybody. JB: Tell me more. NN: Well, these fast-moving video games. Even the average entertainment television program. This is actually good, that your listeners are not watching entertainment television programming, because the rapid scene of reference, every three- to five-second change in reference scene, will actually suppress their frontal lobe 90 seconds into watching it, and you ll see it on EEGs where they go into alpha-wave rhythm. Their memory can still work, their emotions can work, but they re no longer critically analyzing the information that s coming in, and thus hideous things can happen, in front of their very eyes, and they re just taking it in, and they re not rejecting it. And that, of course, is a very dangerous thing and it lowers intelligence. JB: We feel that a kid playing a video game where he s dismembering or decapitating or killing beings every few seconds, we look at that and say, that s bad for a kid s development. Is it really bad? NN: It is bad. It is bad. Now here s the argument. And this takes some degree of intelligence, and also a degree of honesty, for those that say hey, you know, it might increase violence 8 percentile points. In fact, there was a study that looked like, hey it s not that big a deal, cause it takes people who are below average aggression and it moves 8 percentile of the population to above-average aggression. And they re saying, you know, this isn t that big a thing. But if you look at a bell-shaped curve where human phenomena are located an 8 percentile shift in the population means that violence will double, as far as violent crime is concerned. And so, whatever changes we make in a subtle way makes extreme differences on either end. JB: Is there a difference between watching an episode of Seinfeld, some comedy show, compared to a sci-fi thriller horror movie? NN: Well, yeah, content is important, obviously. So, the worse the content, the worse for us. But it s not just content. You can actually have a clean show, but if it suppresses the
It Is Written Script: 1361 Becoming a Smarter You (Nedley) Page 9 frontal lobe of the brain, it actually is still not good for developing IQ. In fact, you know, the interesting thing is, the best movie producers in the world refuse to watch movies or entertainment television, because they know it s going to lower their creativity. Creativity is one of the main things that happens when we have a high IQ. Creativity that s not only original, but useful to others. Now there are some people that say they re creative cause they re just strange, but that s not useful to anybody. We re looking for something that is creative and very useful to others, and it turns out that watching entertainment television will lower that significantly. And those in the high-end mental health fields, they recognize this. JB: It s a little bit scary that well-meaning parents are buying their kid a burger and a large soda drink, and plopping them down in front of their computer console or their video game console, feeding them with movies and so forth. Then they take them to church. JB: And they say, wait a minute, my kid isn t into this anymore. JB: My child doesn t want to go to church. They re bringing it upon themselves. NN: They re bringing it upon themselves. They re suppressing the frontal lobe, which is the area that we worship, as human beings. So if you re suppressing the area that wants to worship something grand, like the Lord, and then you re revving up the limbic system, which is the emotional areas of the brain, kids will get bored with a worship service that would otherwise be very meaningful to somebody who had a balanced brain. JB: In terms of undoing the damage, or enhancing the frontal lobe of the brain. It may be a little bit self-explanatory. Undo some of what s been done. But let s talk about now, in a positive way, how to fix this. What does a person do? NN: Well, what we would recommend is that they get some good materials to really assist them in that. Of course, we have the Optimize Your Brain materials, where you have a DVD, workbook series, you can go through this. But one of the simple things they can do is just get rid of entertainment television. Another major thing, of course, is getting rid of the video games and then replacing it with frontal lobe enhancing activities. And frontal lobe enhancing activities would be going out and taking a nice, three-mile run. Going out and getting a nature walk. Actually reading the Bible for the purpose of discerning what it s actually trying to say, and what was the scene like. And so, reading and analyzing, utilizing the frontal lobe in studying the Bible, or good educational material can greatly enhance the intelligence in the frontal lobe. JB: How does getting the Word of God, the Bible, into your mind affect your mind in a positive way?
It Is Written Script: 1361 Becoming a Smarter You (Nedley) Page 10 NN: It does it actually... We ll see the frontal lobe light up, on an EEG. We ll see the beta waves going. It s actually altering brain chemistry for the better. And that was Les s first thing. You remember, he was starting to study the Bible, so that s when he started getting his IQ up above 80. And Ben Carson what is often not told in Ben Carson it wasn t just TV and musical choices that improved him, but he also began to have a greater interest in the Word of God. And he would attend worship services on a weekly basis and actually enjoy and be enhanced from that. And so that s a very key element, and one that the world kind of looks down upon, but they don t realize, there are some very positive things happening in biblical-centered worship services. JB: So as we get the Word of God in, it s not just good for us spiritually, it s good for us on just every level. NN: Exactly. Exactly. JB: Wonderful. That s why we say at It Is Written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. NN: Makes sense. OFFER JB: We know the Bible as a book that teaches us to live in harmony with God and in ways that demonstrate His love to those around us. God knows what s best for us spiritually. But does He also know what s best for us physically? If you d like to know what the Bible says about how to live the longest, healthiest life possible, let me send you our free booklet, Living Life to the Fullest. All you need to do is call (800) 253-3000 and ask for your copy of Living Life to the Fullest. If the line is busy please do try again. You can write to us at It Is Written, P.O. Box 6, Chattanooga, TN 37401. We ll mail a free copy to you in North America. It Is Written is a faith-based ministry, and your support makes it possible for us to share God s Good News with the world. Your taxdeductible gift can be sent to the address on your screen, or through our website at ItIsWritten.com. Thank you for your continued prayerful support. RETURN TO PROGRAM JB: Fearfully and wonderfully made, made by God to thrive. Incredibly, we make decisions and do things to our brains, our minds, that sometimes push us down a little bit. But by the grace of God there are those things that can reverse the damage and lift us up. Not just up in this world, but up out of this world and into the world to come. Dr. Nedley, thanks for joining me today NN: Thank you. JB: Let s pray together. NN: Yes.
It Is Written Script: 1361 Becoming a Smarter You (Nedley) Page 11 JB: Our Father in heaven, we thank You that You have made us to thrive, not just to battle our way through this world but to be blessed as we make choices that affect our minds, actually affect our very brain, so that then we can operate more efficiently, and operate and live our lives closer to You. May we learn to make choices that will enhance our relationship with You. Let us live according to those wonderful principles of the Bible, with minds that are clear and strong, and let our hearts be joined to the heart of God, that Your thoughts become our thoughts. Bless us, keep us, save us, we pray. In Jesus name. Amen. It Is Written PO Box 6, Chattanooga, TN 37401 USA Tel: 423-362-5800 Fax: 1-877-507-3239 www.itiswritten.com