It’s official: adventure makes you smarter and sexier

Contrary to popular belief, it’s not only fictional adventurers who tend to be smart and handsome, cheekbones as razor-sharp as their wit. It turns out adventure can make us all more attractive and intelligent (as if the appeal of big trails, climbs, quad-biking and the rest of it were not life enhancing enough).

“But how,” you ask, hovering your finger over your laptop to bid for Indiana Jones’ bullwhip and tight khaki trousers on eBay. Allow us to fill you in.

Discovering new cultures can boost your career

If you really want to win over prospective employers, or possibly current ones, you might want to go and get some real word experience. In 2013, a major study focusing on the job market for International Business students found that those who immersed themselves in other cultures had a far better chance of landing their dream job.

Science says adventuring makes you sexier

It’s true. Research conducted for dating giants Match.com found 85 per cent of singles on its database agreed that a sense of adventure made a potential date extremely attractive. Speaking of the findings, Dr. Helen Fisher, Chief Scientific Advisor for Match – so you know they’re not messing around – said: “Novelty triggers the dopamine system in the brain to make you feel alert, focused, energetic, optimistic…and often romantic, making one’s sense of adventure the ultimate aphrodisiac.”

No, like really sexy

Another major dating website, RSVP.com, once surveyed 882 Aussie adults about their turn-ons and turn-offs, with interviewees believing the bigger the adventurer the sexier that person would appear, with ‘daring travellers’ voted by singles as the most enticing of all potential partners.

Learning other languages expands your brain

Smashing a few Duolingo quizzes on the Tube may be doing more than ensuring you can order a coffee abroad without fear of embarrassment. Scientists have found that being bilingual increases the size of the part of the brain responsible for attention span and short-term memory. Not to mention the inner smugness you’ll feel.

Travel builds self-confidence

It’s no secret that adventure travel builds confidence, and in turn, this newly found ego boost will a) make you more attractive to the opposite sex, as studies have shown, and b) also help you develop the sort of composure in front of strangers that’ll spur you on to knock that next big PowerPoint Presentation at work out of the park. Not literally, your laptop would be in bits.

Read more: 5 ways to make everyday an adventure

 Volunteer work makes you look more attractive

Ok, so this is one for those who go the extra mile with their adventuring. Specifically men, in fact, as a 2013 UK study found that women found men more appealing when they did volunteer work, which has very often gone hand in hand with people who go to explore developing worlds and give something back.

Travelling solo is the sexiest way to see the world

Fred from Channel 4’s First Dates chaperoning you across Chile on a blue Vespa? Scarlett Johansson feeding you grapes in Tuscany? Think again – the sexiest way to see the world is to travel solo. Just think of those experiences you’ll enjoy: making new friends, achieving new goals, arriving home in an amazing frame of mind. To be fair, it’s actually less about how you look to other people and more about how you can feel healthier in yourself. To read more about just why solo travel is possibly the best thing ever, click here.

Images: Flash Pack and Shutterstock