The “hot seat” experience of Who Wants to be a Millionaire!

When you’re in the “hot seat” on a show like Who Wants to be a Millionaire? it means you are expected to come up with quick answers to some difficult questions. This is when quick thinking has its benefits but not all of us are able to do that. When the game show franchise Who Wants to be a Millionaire aired on British television, viewers were hooked because it was the only show in which one could literally become a millionaire.

Who wants to be a millionaire?

Contestants in the hot seat are expected to tackle 15 multiple choice questions, which get more difficult, until they get to the million-dollar question. They have several options throughout the quiz show to win: From asking the audience, to phoning a friend, to 50/50 which allows contestants to eliminate two wrong answers. It sounds easy enough if you know a little bit about everything, but to date, there have only been a handful of winners from each country where the Who Wants to be a Millionaire franchise has spread.

One of the reasons why the quiz show is particularly difficult to win is because it requires you to think on your feet, and when people are required to come up with something quickly, the likelihood of forgetting is high.

Hot seat

Quick thinking has its benefits!

Quick-thinking skills can improve many aspects of your life and people who are able to solve problems quickly, report feeling happier and more energetic. Not only that, being more mentally alert helps you stay focused and achieve long-term goals. If you are a student, you know that quick thinking can help you do your homework more efficiently and study for exams. By developing faster thinking skills, your brain’s reaction time increases, and you perform better while playing sports and even while driving. There are ways in which we can get our brains to work more efficiently but let’s first look at what could be impacting our brain’s processing speed.

Quick thinking

Not thinking quickly enough?

If you are not able to think quickly, it doesn’t mean you are less intelligent. There are several reasons why some people are able to think quicker than others. The brain, like any other organ, performs best when it is healthy and rested. The brain’s processing speed is impacted by various factors, such as:

  • Lifestyle
  • Lack of exercise
  • Not doing enough brain training
  • Brain age
Mental workout

There are things you can do to aid quick thinking and here they are:

  • Avoid stimulants such as caffeine and opt for getting some vitamin D instead. Vitamin D is also called the sunshine vitamin and having a lack of it has been said to slow down thinking and impair cognitive functions.
  • Eat plenty of vitamin K – found in leafy greens and extra virgin olive oil, Vitamin K helps to boost your brain’s processing speed.
  • Check with your doctor if Ginkgo biloba, praised in traditional Chinese medicine, would help your memory and concentration as it helps the brain process information with accuracy.
  • Do a mental workout, such as a free online IQ test! You can improve your score by doing brain training exercises on a regular basis.
  • Be socially active. Put down your electronic devices and engage in face-to-face conversations with colleagues, friends and family. Real life conversations help you think faster because you also have to interpret facial expressions.
  • Get your hearing and eyesight checked! The quicker you address sensory changes, the quicker you can catch early problems. As we grow older, our bodies experience changes, and research has shown that if you experience hearing loss, there is a higher risk of developing dementia.
  • Having good vision also helps the brain process the world around us and is an important element in maintaining brain health.