Today’s Solutions: January 23, 2026

Here at The Intelligent Optimist we love books and most of us usually try to abstain from long bouts of TV watching. While we all indulge ourselves every once in a while, it turns out that watching a little TV isn’t that bad for you—as long as you’re watching TV dramas. Complex TV dramas are actually quite mentally taxing, and stimulate virtually every part of the brain—from the occipital lobe in the back where images are recognized, to parietal lobe that separates the important from unimportant stuff, and even both hemispheres of the frontal lope are engaged. Crime dramas get extra points because they activate the part of our brain that controls emotion. So if you sit down this evening to watch some TV, try an intricate drama, it’s actually good for you.

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