Are you stuck for an idea? Or trying to work through a problem and the solution seems just out of reach? Instead of sitting there going around in circles inside your head, how about lacing up your walking shoes and going for a stroll?
In a study called 'Give your ideas some legs: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking', researchers from Stanford University put 48 undergraduate volunteers through their paces and analysed their performance on creativity tests. Most of the volunteers scored better on creative output while walking compared to sitting.
“Whether one is outdoors or on a treadmill, walking improves the generation of novel yet appropriate ideas, and the effect even extends to when people sit down to do their creative work shortly after,” write the authors in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition. “Walking opens up the free flow of ideas, and it is a simple and robust solution to the goals of increasing creativity and increasing physical activity.”