If you've ever had to work on a project, or figure out a solution to a problem, it can feel agonizing. Especially if you're on a deadline and have other people depending on you to find the answer. Luckily, researchers have found a way to increase creative output; Walking.
In 2014, researchers at Standford University tested out the theory that going for a walk makes you more creative. The results? An astonishing yes. Throughout research history, it's been no secret that there is a connection between the mind and the body, with physical activity having an impact on one's mental wellbeing. However, the specifics of how various physical activities change your mental outlook are still yet to be understood.
Of course, we do need to understand how exactly this phenomenon was tested, as 'creative output' can meet a lot of things to different people. The first experiment had students completing a divergent creativity task, once when seated and again when walking. They did the same with a convergent thinking task as well, in order to get the best results. Participants were given three words and had to give as many alternat uses as they could within a 4-minute timespan. Participants did significantly better on the divergent thinking test when walking yet had a slight decrease in responses when walking with convergent thinking.
The second experiment replicated the first, and then added two more versions to check off other possible causes for the increased responses. Experiment 2.2 had participants sit for both trials to see whether practice was causing the increase, and experiment 2.3 had participants walk first then sit to see if order changed anything. There was no convergent thinking test, only the divergent one, so they could isolate results.
The sit-tread test saw the same results as Experiment 1, the sit-sit test didn't cause an improvement, and the tread-sit test "people showed a marked advantage in seated creative production compared with those who had not first walked" yet still had a higher response number in the tread test.
The 3rd experiment tested whether walking in the environment vs walking on the treadmill desk would change results. This experiment had 4 parts, being sit-sit, sit-walk, walk-sit, and walk-walk, so allow for the greatest test of factors. Results were similar to that of previous studies, with the walk from the walk-sit test having the highest average responses. The greatest increase is in the sit-walk test, once again affirming the earlier results.
This paper ended with a fourth experiment to use a different measure for the creativity and using both indoor and dynamic outdoor environments. In these tests, walking still produces a higher level of analogical creativity, as well as more quality analogies. Being in a dynamic outdoor environment also produced higher results.
So, if you're ever trying to work on something creatively, don't just sit at a desk and think about it for hours, go on a walk, especially if you can walk outside. If that's not an option, simply being outside can help, or walking on a treadmill.