Want to be More Creative? Take a Walk

[3113]

Literally, according to new research.

Researchers from Stanford did several small-scale studies that looked at how walking may increase creativity. Basically, they made research subjects take creativity tests, then had them walk around and take a creativity test again. The New York Times breaks down the results:

For almost every student, creativity increased substantially when they walked. Most were able to generate about 60 percent more uses for an object, and the ideas were both "novel and appropriate..."

...Walking markedly improved people's ability to generate creative ideas, even when they sat down after the walk. In that case, the volunteers who had walked produced significantly more and subjectively better ideas than in their pre-exercise testing period...

So, if you have writer's block, it seems the best solution is to take a stroll.

 

[sr71plt]

I do develop ideas while I'm hiking, yes. Even if nothing occurs, the hike was beneficial.

 

[Aynmair]

Literally, according to new research.

So, if you have writer's block, it seems the best solution is to take a stroll.

No studies on the frequency of new ideas coming on during showers? Odd....

 

[sr71plt]

Or watching dirty videos, for that matter? (Or wasn't there a government grant for this?)

 

[slyc_willie]

I tried this, but I kept dropping the laptop.

 

[Aynmair]

Silly, use a mini-tablet or mini iPad! They make waterproof covers for them, for all sorts of purposes!

 

[slyc_willie]

Silly, use a mini-tablet or mini iPad! They make waterproof covers for them, for all sorts of purposes!

Hey, I'm good, but I'm not Jesus. I was walking on the sidewalk, not water.

 

[sheablue]

I honestly do get lots of ideas in the shower! And I just mean a regular shower, not a fancy fun-time shower, though that will do the trick in a pinch. Something about the positive ions in running water, perhaps?

I haven't read the article, but I wonder if the better results after walking has something to do with increased intake of oxygen and increased blood flow?

 

[sr71plt]

I'd go with the good old fashioned opportunity to clear your mind of other clutter while you're walking. (You can send the grant money to my PayPal account.)

 

[Aynmair]

I honestly do get lots of ideas in the shower! And I just mean a regular shower, not a fancy fun-time shower, though that will do the trick in a pinch. Something about the positive ions in running water, perhaps?

I haven't read the article, but I wonder if the better results after walking has something to do with increased intake of oxygen and increased blood flow?

Yes, you're right concerning oxygen and blood flow - that's supposed to be a great side benefit of any exercise. There have been several good studies showing that, though I'm too lazy to find links now, sorry.

Both showers and walks work for me sometimes. Anything that takes me out of the minutiae and crap. On the other hand, I also get good ideas in dreams. The trick is sometimes I feel I had one, but can't quite remember what it was! (probably sucked in fact)

 

[robertreams]

I take a walk every day. was at 25-30 miles aweek until severe breakout of COPD, now down to about 7. working back up now that the weather has improved.

 

[Gunnlaug]

I find that it isn't even about initial ideas - walking helps me sort out thorny plot difficulties. Happily I spend a lot of time walking to work and I have a 10 minute walk to the Metro every morning. Unfortunately I forget half of what I think up (particularly dialogue). Part of me wants to get a dictaphone and talk into it (and no worries about being overheard as I don't live in an Anglophone country), but the last thing I want to do is look like a weirdo - I'm still a little bit thrown when I see someone using a hands free mobile.

 

[MrFoxwood]

Walking works for me, but then so does lying down somewhere quiet. I think anything that takes you out of your immediate surrounds, whether physically or mentally, will help.

I'm pretty sure I saw a documentary about researchers studying ways to improve imagination and the gist of it was that anything you do out of the norm will prompt your brain to work in more creative ways, even something as trivial as dressing in a different order.

 

[Hypoxia]

Not too long ago, my writing concentrated on critical and/or absurd essays and articles, and travel journals, and songs. My habit of carrying a voice recorder with me when I went hiking or biking generated many texts and tunes. Walking through a neighborhood dictating notes, or riding and chanting lyrics -- no problem. Ah, if seen doing this in an eatery or other business establishment, I was sometimes mistaken for a reviewer / critic, and peppered with questions or favors by proprietors. But yes, physical movement promotes ideas, for me anyway.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I watch George Smiley movies.

 

[lovecraft68]

I used to get a lot of ideas while jogging. I'd get hit with something and atrt mapping it out.....

But since that time I ran into the parked car I try not to think too hard anymore

 

[Swilly]

I used to get a lot of ideas while jogging. I'd get hit with something and atrt mapping it out.....

But since that time I ran into the parked car I try not to think too hard anymore

I'm still waiting for you to send that check for the bodywork on my poor car.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'm still waiting for you to send that check for the bodywork on my poor car.

Don't laugh, the guy down the street from me had to pay to replace the roof of another neighbor's Miatta when his Dobermans got out of the yeard and chased me down the street and the only place to go was to jump on top of his car and my foot went through the roof

To this day my wife will lament she didn't have that on video. "Holy shit you can flat out run!" she laughs.

She also wouldn't let me get payback by letting my German Shepherds out in the morning when that asshole goes "power walking"

 

[49greg]

Some of my most productive idea generating time is when I'm taking the dog on our daily hikes. Remembering them long enough to get them down is the biggest problem.

 

[Blind_Justice]

Public transportation does the trick for me. When I'm done dodging smsrtphone zombies and have claimed a stable parking space in bus or subway, my mind zones out, processing ideas and stuff. Sometimes, I even get attacked by plot bunnies, like that afternoon whdn two girls behind me were discussing their first lesbian experience. One of them got dumped by her boyfriend during a party, best friend stepped in to console her, alcohol was involved and stuff went from there. Turns out that life has all the boring plotlines