Brief Answer: IQ is multifactorially affected Detailed Answer: Hello XXXX! It is a topic worth of discussion and research and a lot of articles can be written upon it. Intelligence quotient is basically the mental age ratio to the chronological age of a person. For example if a person’s brain is thinking and solving problems of 23 years old and he is just 17 so it will be said his intelligence quotient is 23/17. Normally average IQ is 100 110. People down to 75- 50 - 30 are called morons and retards. People above it are called geniuses. Remember when a baby is born his brain is carte blanche. An empty paper on which whatever is needed to be written decides the fate. So most of the discussion points to the way a person gets groomed and nurtured and exposed to the environment to use his brain and flourish. To err is human but error is the largest reason for the success. Activity based learning and trials and errors and trying again and again leads to this increase in depth and brevity. So IQ is I would say 70 percent acquired. Rest 30 percent are genetics. There are areas in the brain for higher mental functioning. Some are good guitarists, some are artists, some are good speakers, good listeners, good interpreters, brave, and all other qualities decided by the areas in the brain involved in action. It is normally said in physiology that right brain dominant people are a bit more in intelligence quotients but their average lives are 10 years less than left brain dominants. The left brain is provided with major supply of vessels and nutrition as its functions are more. But when the right brain is dominant then both the lobes of the brain are fantastic and artistic works and extra ordinary skills turn out. like XXXXXXX Einstein, Picasso, good musicians. Remember brain is a weapon strong enough to do anything you put it through. A person can do wonders with it if you groom it proper. Now coming to environmental factors. Its well known that all health habits, proper sleep, proper routine, balanced diet, stress free life, healthy sex ( not too much sex with proper gaps) useful activities, good company and all that literature states good to human behaviour. Man is a social animal when its higher centers are free from emotions and troubles which gives it distractions, it can do wonders, that’s why it is said there should be an hour or two in ones daily life to be alone in quite place to ponder and calculate his life over and decide the pros and cons of one’s personality. Gut also plays the role somehow. A good fibrous diet with healthy bowel habits provides just the nutrition brain needs and hormonal stimulations which add to the neuronal strengthening of the CNS. The memory centers get sharpened , the hippocampi relays neurons gets more Renshaw cells and more control of power. Memory gets sharp. continuous use of Wernick's area of the brain increases the creativity, use of Wernick's increase the skills, communication, manipulation, and expertise, so you see it’s all the proper exposure you need to groom your senses and skills. Exercise, early morning rise from bed, early falling off to bed, early breakfasts, some yoga weekly, some healthy relations, some maternal paternal endorsements, so friendship tetherments and a person becomes a man, society helps, neighbor hood matters. So in nut shell all that which a college student feels burdened doing and feels impossible to do is what makes you smart. There are some strange facts about intelligence quotient. Did you know Anorexia low appetite increases the IQ? Doesn’t mean you should stop eating but it is proven by a research. Healthy human being who is free of any mental illness or retardation can achieve the IQ he wants but will need the effort required and this is the place where we lack, we want miracles to happen, but miracles don’t happen. Hard work decides it. I wish we could talk about it more. But you know brains higher mental functions are very complicated subject and a simple paragraph as an answer won’t be ever enough to explain the aspects of it all that it have and it has many more than one can imagine. Hope I was of some help. Cheers Dr Khan

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