Hey bros,
The late George Carlin summarized “…everything you need to know about male-female relationships: women are crazy, men are stupid. And the main reason women are crazy is that men are stupid.” In our case, science is starting to show that George was right.
Although it’s true that the big dumb jock is a cliché, in this case there may actually be a reason that it became a cliché. The reason? Testosterone, dudes. We’ve known for a long time that it makes you bigger, and that it makes you more athletic, but now we’re seeing some early studies that it makes guys dumber, too. Our favorite hormone gets the hat trick.
In one of the best-known examples of such a study, guys were tasked with taking a “Cognitive Reflection Test.” This type of test consists of questions and puzzles involving logic and math, but where most people are likely to spot an intuitive answer before working through to the correct answer. In other words, the less impulsive the test takers are, the better they do.
These bros took one part of the test, and then given testosterone gel to rub on their chests. After the T kicked in, they began the next part of the test, but their accuracy dropped by a good 20%. They were also more confident about their answers. Yup, instant dumb jocks!
Now I can hear some of you guys panicking: “I love working out, bro, but I don’t want to be DUMB!! How do I fix this?”
Dude. Calm down.
It’s true that when you train your muscles, your body produces more testosterone. But fortunately, there’s a counterbalance. That same exercise also gets your blood stream absorbing more oxygen, which in turn improves your brain’s cognitive performance. Remember, nature loves to keep things in balance. (Of course, if you mess with nature and take steroids, that’s a completely different situation.)
So feel free to keep going with your workout program. Besides, you now have an excuse when your girlfriend, wife, or other female relative gets exasperated with you during a conversation. You can just shrug and say, “You’re right; I’m talking out of my nuts.”
Later,
-The Blog Dude
