Go for a walk. Creative genius will follow.
Photo by Taylor Baker, Staff Photographer
Take a walk.
Believe it or not, creativity can be sparked through the ordinary activity of putting one foot in front of the other. The rhythm at which each step follows the other carries one creative thought to the next. Whether it be a personal project, a paper or an exam, walking can clear a cluttered mind and awaken the imagination.
Though research has not pinned down exactly why, multiple factors tie walking with creativity. Lecturer of Health Science Dr. Pamela Hobbs explained the physiology of walking affects the chemical balance in the brain and body.
“When we are taking a step, we have muscles that are holding us upright, we have posture muscles that are stabilizing, and our hip muscles that most people forget about. … So you’re also having to work for balance as well as the muscles contracting,” Hobbs said. “Most of us think it’s just our legs working, but all of that is going on at the same time.”
However, these actions cannot be executed without oxygen. According to Hobbs, when walking, the heart begins to pump faster and circulates more blood through your veins and vessels, diffusing more oxygen to muscles and organs. The brain especially benefits from this process.
As a result, the physical process of walking seems to dictate the physiological process of thinking. According to The New Yorker, the way a person chooses to move his or her body changes thinking patterns, and vice versa.
“We can actively change the pace of our thoughts by deliberately walking more briskly or by slowing down,” the article said. “Because we don’t have to devote much conscious effort to the act of walking, our attention is free to wander.”
This absent action is precisely the state of mind that studies have connected to ingenious ideas and epiphanies.
“Walking at our own pace creates an unadulterated feedback loop between the rhythm of our bodies and our mental state that we cannot experience as easily…during any other kind of locomotion,” the article said.
However, rhythm is not the only aspect of walking that seems to govern our thinking. Marc Berman of the University of South Carolina conducted a study which determined a walk's location also impacts the thought patterns.
“Nature, which is filled with intriguing stimuli, modestly grabs attention… [giving it] a chance to replenish,” Berman said. “Unlike natural environments, urban environments are filled with stimulation that captures attention dramatically…making them less restorative.”
While research has indicated time and again that exercise is linked to positive brain stimulation, what about walking in particular yields epiphanies, innovative ideas and memory accessibility as opposed to other forms of physical activity?
Results of recent studies are not entirely conclusive in finding the causation, but they do report a correlation specifically between walking and thought patterns. With increased oxygen and blood flow to the brain, walking on a regular basis promotes growth and new connections between brain cells, which somehow fosters creativity.
Sophomore math education major Taylor Hill said she believes walking sparks creativity in her mind when she is in search of inspiration for paintings and pottery projects.
“I enjoy painting and sculpting, and sometimes, when I can’t grasp on to an idea well, I walk around the store or outside until I have a solid vision,” Hill said.
Hill, as a future educator, said she also holds to this notion when it comes to her understanding of children.
“Kids are so creative and wild because they’re always moving and stimulating their minds,” Hill said.
Some believe, however, that any automatic, routine task can yield this result. Tanner Christensen, founder of CreativeSomething.net and author of The Creativity Challenge, said walking, among other everyday tasks, breeds creativity through a specific state of mind called “creative pause.”
“Creative pause is a state of mind that limits our conscious, filtered thinking while allowing unrestricted, deeper thoughts to flow freely,” Christensen said. “It’s the state we get into when taking a morning shower, doing the dishes, or (unsurprisingly) taking a leisurely walk.”
When a person is consciously focused on a definitive task or problem, he or she has fenced in the mind’s ability to process unrelated thoughts. While researchers may not yet understand why, it seems one of the best ways to free those thoughts is to take a stroll and allow the creative insights to surface.
If you need some inspiration, go for a walk. Or vacuum your living room. Maybe even fold laundry. The stroke of creativity that might follow is not about the mundane activity alone, but what it allows your brains to do.
