The One Behavior That Seems Lazy But Actually Means Someone’s Highly Intelligent
Researchers found that people who are lazy may actually just be smarter than everyone else.
Ilona Kozhevnikova / Shutter Are you lazy? More specifically, would you rather lounge around than engage in physical activity? Well, that's actually great news for you because it means you're smart. Well, not just smart, but smarter than people who are more physically active. That's right, science has determined that lazy people are honestly some of the smartest individuals around.
By delving deeper into this topic, it reveals a complex relationship between laziness and intelligence, where multiple factors intertwine to shape an individual's intellectual prowess. So, are lazy people truly smart? Let's see what the research says to back it up.
Preferring to lounge around might seem lazy, but it actually means you're highly intelligent.
Researchers from Florida Gulf Coast University, led by Todd McElroy, used a written test to find the perfect research group to test out this theory.
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The 2016 study, published in the Journal of Health Psychology, divided the group into those who cherished thinking and actively sought out thought-provoking situations, and those who would rather do anything but think.
The results revealed that individuals who derived pleasure from solving puzzles displayed a higher level of NFC (Need for Cognition) compared to those who preferred less mentally stimulating tasks.
Researchers found a link between intelligence and activity levels.
Participants were given activity monitors, which tracked their movements every 30 seconds. With a dataset of 20,000 points per person, the researchers analyzed and compared activity levels between the two groups. Researchers found a significant contrast between individuals with low NFC and high NFC.
During the work week, those with low NFC were more active than the group with high NFC. However, on the weekends, the data indicated that both groups were more prone to lounging around. So, lazy people are smart, but are smart people lazy, too? After a period of 7 days, the results were in. The "thinkers" were markedly less active during the week than their less thoughtful compatriots.
The researchers also found that, on the weekends, the activity levels for both the lazy and the smart were equal. They claim not to know why, but I think we can all work that out. The smart probably have the opportunity to move a little bit more, and since the weekends are made for relaxing, the super-active probably allow themselves to move around a little bit less.
Smarter people may seem lazy, but they are actually engaged in thought, even when they are literally doing nothing.
The researchers theorized that smarter people are lazier because they have longer attention spans. The study stated, "Findings from a U.S.-based study seem to support the idea that people with a high IQ get bored less easily, leading them to spend more time engaged in thought... non-thinkers get bored more easily, so [they] need to fill their time with physical activity."
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They don't always need to be on the move in the hunt for their next form of stimulation. In other words, they can sit at home for hours on end reading, napping, and thinking, while less intelligent people are like, "Let us go and climb up yonder mountain so that the thought machine on my shoulders remains quiet."
While this study is great for the purposes of flinging in the face of your more active friends when they try to shame you for the body shape divot on your favorite armchair, it is true that living a strictly sedentary life is super bad for you. Luckily, the awareness of their tendency towards sloth is supposedly all the encouragement smart people need to get off their rear ends and move a little.
Rebecca Jane Stokes is a writer and the former Senior Editor of Pop Culture at Newsweek with a passion for lifestyle, geek news, and true crime.
