{"id":747,"date":"2014-04-28T21:34:52","date_gmt":"2014-04-28T20:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pilatesfitness.co.uk\/blog\/?p=747"},"modified":"2017-09-29T20:32:44","modified_gmt":"2017-09-29T19:32:44","slug":"walking-boosts-creativity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pilatesfitness.co.uk\/blog\/?p=747","title":{"rendered":"Walking Boosts Creativity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"walking-child-pixabay\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\n

WALKING BOOSTS CREATIVE THINKING<\/p>\n

Research in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition<\/a> (April 2014) shows that walking boosts creative thinking, which is perhaps why walking meetings have had some success (in spite of being “non-traditional”).<\/p>\n

The good news is that the act of walking — even on a treadmill — does the trick! Dr. Marily Oppexxo and Daniel Schwartz, professors at Stanford Graduate School of Education found that compared with sitting down, walking indoors on a treadmill facing a blank wall or walking outdoors in the fresh air produced twice as many creative responses.<\/span><\/p>\n

In one particular experiment carried out indoors, participants walking on a treadmill scored an average of 60% higher on divergent thinking creativity than when they were sitting<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Divergent thinking [note: this sounds like Edward De Bono’s “Lateral Thinking”<\/a> to me] is when you generate ideas by thinking of lots of possible solutions. So, if you are ever stuck on how to solve a problem, a walk is what you need!!!<\/p>\n

This may be one of the best reasons to get up from your desk or couch (together with doing your body a favour).<\/p>\n

If you do walk (at home or outdoors), do not look at your mobile phone\/tablet\/other screen while you do! Unplug for a little while!<\/p>\n

NOTE: Walking had no positive effect on the type of thinking that requires focused concentration (like writing a report or computer programming). However, speaking from experience, I can say that:<\/p>\n