Researchers Discovered a Surprisingly Simple Way to Boost Your Creativity. But Does It Work?
· Vice
Sometimes, when you’re working on a creative project, you feel like you have to spend every waking second chiseling at it to make real headway. But scientifically speaking, it’s probably best to occasionally abandon your desk and take a nice, head-clearing walk. Don’t let years of corporate conditioning convince you that you have to stay chained to your workspace. Flee that desk and seek the head-clearing refuge of the outdoors, even if it is just a light neighborhood walk.
According to research compiled in a Washington Post report, a stroll is a legit shortcut to spurring the divergent thinking and spontaneous brain processes that help you spitball original ideas.
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A PLOS ONE meta-analysis led by McMaster University researcher Alex Thabane revealed that walking significantly boosts your ability to generate fresh ideas. While it won’t do the heavy lifting for convergent thinking (the part where you sit down and sort the good ideas from the bad), walking greases your brain’s gears.
A Simple Walk Could Be the Secret to Unlocking Your Creativity, According to Science
You don’t need to overthink it or overdo it. No need to pace back and forth like an anxious father in a maternity ward. Spontaneity and novelty are your friends: a 2022 study found that forcing people to walk a strict, predetermined path in a boring room crushed their creativity instead of letting it flourish. Let yourself roam freely, because when your body explores a space, so does your mind.
Remember, humans didn’t evolve to spend eight hours a day rotting in ergonomic chairs at cramped desks. A standing desk is a nice change of pace, but it’s no substitute for leaving artificial lighting and recycled air behind, letting the sun beam directly onto you, and hearing the sounds of nature as you wander a park, or even just your street. It’ll change all your sensory inputs and ramp up blood flow, while releasing the brain-derived neurotrophic factor that supports neuroplasticity.
The next time your brain is completely fried, do what other legendary thinkers like Einstein, Virginia Woolf, and modern-day geniuses like Stephen King have done: wander around the block for a bit, then come back.
Though, unlike Stephen King, I hope you don’t get hit by a car along the way.
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