More Fun Ways to Take Better Risks

More Fun Ways to Take Better Risks

The body and mind are strange beasts, and even though we still don’t fully understand them, we’ve made massive discoveries that can help you become a better risk-taker each and every day if you’re willing to obey the scientific wisdom.
Here are a few more zany tactics you can employ on your quest to more intelligent risk-taking:
Find smarter friends: Just the act of being in a group makes you far more likely to take risks. This could be due to a sense of shared responsibilities—you don’t feel like you’re acting alone. Taking more risks doesn’t mean taking better ones, though, so be sure to surround yourself with people who inspire you to take smart ones. No need to be king of the hill. Aiming to be the dumbest of all your friends is a noble goal.
Practice sleep deprivation: If it’s basic human nature to take more risks on a loss than on a gain, studies have shown you can at least partially counteract this by staying up too late the night before a big decision; sleep deprivation inhibits the part of the brain that’s responsible for assessing potential losses.
Avoid beautiful women: If you’re a man, elevated testosterone usually equals more risk-taking and less thinking. This is our primitive curse, as proven in a hilarious study at the University of Queensland on the willingness of teenage skateboarders to harm themselves in the presence of beautiful women. If you’re doing something potentially life threatening, make sure no one attractive is watching.
Look at art: New research suggests that looking at art for just 40 minutes can achieve the same effect that five hours of typical “decompression” tactics like reading or relaxing have. To de-stress quickly before a difficult decision, opt for Dalí over Dickens.
Avoid MAO inhibitors: If your doctor prescribes you an MAO inhibitor, avoid important decision making while using it! Deficiencies of the critical MAO-B neurotransmitter are heavily linked to poor decision making. Just ask the legions of prison inmates with MAO-B deficiencies.
Skip Thanksgiving: Not long ago, we learned that tryptophan—a natural chemical found in turkey—is what’s responsible for making you so tired after a holiday feast. Now we know that it makes you temporarily stupid, too. Participants in a study at Queen’s University Belfast were tested for their decision making capabilities during a normal state and during a state of rapid trytophan depletion. Participants in a depleted state made objectively better decisions. This may explain why retailers make so much money on the day after thanksgiving.