A new study shows that walking can boost creative thinking following a series of experiments. Researchers from the Stanford University in California have compared the levels of creativity in people while they were walking and while they sat. Apparently, their creative output increased by 60% while they were walking.
A lot of individuals claim that they actually come up and brainstorm a lot of new ideas, best ones at that, while they were walking. In fact, Steve Jobs, who is the co-founder of Apple and the one who came up with many ideas for the tech giant, hold his meetings while he is walking. Accordingly, Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook, is also doing the same.
Dr. Marily Oppezzo and Daniel Schwartz, professors at Stanford Graduate School of Education explained why walking can increase creative thinking. They discovered that when a person is walking, it has an effect in boosting creative inspiration. It does not matter whether the person walks indoor or outdoor as the act itself is helpful.
In one of the experiments they conducted, they found out that walking indoors in a treadmill facing a blank wall or walking outdoors produced twice as many creative ideas and responses compared when a person is seated. According to Dr. Oppezzo, said, "I thought walking outside would blow everything out of the water, but walking on a treadmill in a small, boring room still had strong results, which surprised me." She says theirs appears to be the first study to look specifically at the effect of non-aerobic walking on simultaneously generating new ideas, and compare it with sitting."
The researchers recruited 176 college students and other adults wherein they completed tasks that the researchers would normally use to gauge creative thinking. The participants were placed in several conditions inlduing non-aerobic walking, sitting, indoors and outdoors.
To carry out their four experiments, Dr. Oppezzo and Prof. Schwartz recruited 176 college students and other adults, and had them complete tasks that researchers normally used to measure creative thinking.
The subjects underwent a wide variety of different combinations of walking and sitting like for example, two consecutive walking sessions or two consecutive seated sessions. The series of experiments showed that walking outside resulted in 100% of participants generating at least one high-quality complex analogy. This is compared to 50% when the person is seated indoors.
"This study is another justification for integrating bouts of physical activity into the day, whether it's recess at school or turning a meeting at work into a walking one. We'd be healthier, and maybe more innovative for it," Dr. Oppezzo added.
