The magic from walking

Recent research has demonstrated that simple physical activity such as striding on the road can spark creative ideas.

From artists to office workers, people from all walks of life share the same know-how to stimulate creativity. Accordingly, many people revealed that a stroll helped them handle ideas or overcome challenges in their work , and now new research results have corroborated that. 'Many people say that their minds work best when walking' , according to Santa Clara University's Marily Oppezzo. With this study, the scientific community has finally begun to find out why such gentle physical activity is enough to activate the brain's thinking power.

Many people keep walking every day despite the weather to keep their minds working - (Photo: startribune.com)

For several centuries, many people believe that walking can be the source of endless creativity. In fact, some musicians almost madly believe that only walking helps them create spiritual products in the classic form, according to a new book titled Daily Ritual by Mason Currey Editor. For example, Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky spent up to 2 hours a day straying despite good and bad weather, and Ludwig van Beethoven frequently walked after lunch. This habit is not limited to composers. Famous novelist Charles Dickens is also a frequent walker and philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once wrote: 'I stride to get the best idea'. Even even a tight-time celebrity like Charles Darwin later decided to add three short walks to the busy schedule every day.

To test whether there is any evidence to support the long-held belief of spiritual activists, Oppezzo and his colleagues recruited dozens of people, mostly college students, for some experiments. at Stanford University. In one challenge, participants completed the sit-down test, and then followed it when walking on the machine. The results showed that walking seemed to improve scores in creative thinking. Specifically, they are provided with the name of an object and within 4 minutes it is necessary to quickly provide as many uses as possible. For example, one person said that a button could be used as a 'door handle of a toy house, eyes of dolls, filters, road markers were passed'. However, in another test, pedestrians scored fewer points when asked to solve problems with only one answer, for example a word related to the 'cottage - Switzerland - cake ' , and the answer is ' cheese'.

Experts say they still do not have a satisfactory explanation about why walking can stimulate creativity. At the same time, it is unclear whether other mild forms of activity, such as knitting, have the same effect on brain capacity. They hope that future studies will gradually help find answers to the relationship between walking and cognitive changes in the brain, according to a report published by Experimental Psychology: Learning. , Memory and Cognition.