
Stanford study finds walking improves creativity (2014) - denzil_correa
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/april/walking-vs-sitting-042414.html
======
Akkuma
This made me think that perhaps part of the reason adults seem to often be
less creative than young children is due to how little movement adults often
do during the day at their jobs. Maybe we've been impeding ourselves by how
much more of a sedentary lifestyle we live from sitting at a desk all day, to
sitting in a car, to sitting to eat, to sitting to watch tv, etc.. If you
could prove that the increased creativity leads to increased productivity, you
might start seeing startups pushing for people to take walks whenever they hit
a snag.

~~~
dummy7953
Yes, and while we're being creative, perhaps we can think of a way to solve
the problem of increasing productivity while never seeing the benefit of any
of it.

/rant

~~~
oldmanjay
Not to be too flip, but that problem has been solved for centuries. Negotiate
better.

~~~
stdbrouw
Doesn't help when the issue is benefit to society rather than personal
benefit.

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a-guest
John Medina's Brain Rules: Rule #1: Exercise boosts brain power.
[http://www.brainrules.net/exercise](http://www.brainrules.net/exercise)

And he also notes that two of the worst environments for the brain are: (1)
the office (2) the classroom

~~~
rdudek
This is actually a great book and I highly recommend anyone that lives a
sedentary lifestyle that today's work environments promote.

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hownottowrite
Frédéric Gros' _Philosophy of Walking_ is a great ramble on the subject.
There's a little preview in this Guardian interview from 2014:
[http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/20/frederic-
gros-w...](http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/20/frederic-gros-walk-
nietzsche-kant)

~~~
hellameta
> It's an examination of the philosophy of various thinkers for whom walking
> was central to their work – Nietzsche, Rimbaud, Kant, Rousseau, Thoreau
> (they're all men; it's unclear if women don't walk or don't think)

This little line came out nowhere, hah! Well done. Thank you for sharing this.

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saturdaysaint
It is remarkable how a _really_ high percentage of the biographies I've read
(of famous/"great" people) mention walking as a critical routine - Jobs,
Beethoven, Jefferson, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt spring to mind.

~~~
victorhn
Add Friedrich Nietzsche.

~~~
Toast_
Kant and Marx too.

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zwischenzug
My most productive day of coding ever was the day I took a day off work and
went for a 10 mile walk through London. Whenever I got stuck I would shut the
laptop and walk. Eventually, the answer would come to me while walking and I'd
carry on coding. I think I spent about 2.5 hours coding and the rest of the
day walking.

It's just a shame it was a) closed source and b) I didn't get paid for it!

~~~
Chinjut
What circumstances caused you to be writing closed source code without being
paid for it?

~~~
zwischenzug
It was for my job - a tool that I really wanted to implement to save time
debugging live issues.

Strangely enough I saw a similar tool that Facebook built being demoed at a
meetup this week. Theirs was much nicer-looking (mine was text only).

I enjoy writing time-saving tools, but now I try and profit from it myself.

------
g0v
When I'm wrestling with a problem I'll sometimes go outside and pace back and
forth in my yard. Pacing has been a habit of mine since I was a kid, I
remember doing it one time my mom told me "stop pacing, you're making me
nervous."

As an adult I love walking, I feel that it's when I can think the clearest.
And as an adult I still pace, especially at the gym when I'm resting before my
next set.

Now I'm starting to wonder about myself. Anyways, go on walks!

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troels
What if I also eat chocolate?

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executive
Perhaps walking in California, but not walking in -40 with wind chill shearing
your face off.

~~~
akgerber
Novosibirsk in January has an average low temperature of -21C/-6F:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Novosibirsk](https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Novosibirsk)
Winnipeg is about the same:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg#Climate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg#Climate)
In fact, 'Temperatures do occasionally drop below −40.0 °C (−40 °F) but this
has become quite rare in the last few decades and has in fact not occurred
since February 2007.'

Which suggests that -40 with windchill is a relatively uncommon condition.

A half-hour walk in 20F weather is perfectly comfortable with decent clothing
(an insulated jacket, wool socks, long johns under one's pants, a scarf), and
that's about as cold as it gets in most of the inhabited world.

On the other hand, a walk in California can be pretty uncomfortable due to the
beating sun & high-speed traffic situation in many areas.

~~~
dang
> Which suggests that -40 with windchill is a relatively uncommon condition

-40 is uncommon, but "-40 with windchill" can mean something different. In Canada it's common to report the temperature along with a lower number that takes wind chill into account. Thus a weather reporter might say, "-25 (Celsius), -40 with wind chill", meaning it's windy enough that if you go out walking it'll feel like -40 and the creativity won't exactly flow.

This became standard about a generation ago. I believe they started doing it
to alert people to the risk of frostbite. But every time I hear it I can't
help thinking that previous generations of Canadians would look down their
possibly frostbitten noses at us for weakness.

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pxck
It's time to install a treadmill in front of my standing desk.

~~~
jessriedel
> researchers at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, recruited 75 healthy
> young men and women and randomly assigned them to workspaces outfitted with
> a computer and either a chair or a treadmill desk....Then the volunteers
> were asked to complete a series of tests of their manual and mental
> dexterity...The manual task was simple enough, consisting of using the
> keyboard to type words that flashed onto the computer screen as quickly and
> accurately as possible while the volunteer either sat or slowly walked.

> The cognitive tests were more demanding, designed to measure practical
> aspects of cognition, such as working memory and delayed recall, and the
> ability to concentrate, all of which are important in performing office
> work. In one of these tests, volunteers had to learn and later recall lists
> of words; in another, they were asked to juggle lists of numbers and add
> them up in their heads even as new numbers were added to the list...

> The results, when the researchers compared the treadmill walkers with the
> people sitting at their desks, substantially favored sitting. The people who
> had walked during the testing performed worse on almost all aspects of
> thinking, including the ability to concentrate and remember, compared with
> those who had been seated.

[http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/10/the-downside-of-
tre...](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/10/the-downside-of-treadmill-
desks/)

~~~
crusso
Yeah, but:

> None of the participants had used a treadmill desk before, so they received
> a few minutes of instruction and practice

A few minutes? Jeez, I'd expect that getting acclimated to a completely
different way to work would take at least several weeks or months.

~~~
jessriedel
Fair enough, I guess. This still lowers my expectation that there is a
significant positive improvement in the long term, and is strong evidence
against the sort of anecdotal claims that "you immediately feel better and
more alert" that I hear all the time.

~~~
marchelzo
I think something else that could have impacted their results is that for some
people, the knowledge that they are being tested changes the way they
think/perform quite drastically. When I sit at a desk and do menial work, I
get restless and my productivity plummets. But if you tell me that I'm being
assessed, and you give me a straightforward task, I will have no trouble
focusing on it for at least an hour. Maybe treadmill desks help you stay on
task, but at the same time inhibit your cognitive performance slightly.

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awjr
Is it the act of just moving? I'm assuming this also goes for cycling? I cycle
to work (5 miles each way) and the 25 minutes each way have sections where I
can mentally focus on other things and just let my body ride.

I can pretty much set myself up for the work that day in the morning thinking
through issues very deeply. In the evening, I find it clears my head and lets
me think around any issues I've had during the day or just get myself prepped
for any side projects I'm working on that evening.

I like the idea of a walking meeting however the dynamics of having 5 people
walk together and be able to have good conversations might not work. I'm
guessing 2-3 people maximum would work.

How does this relate to standing desks? Standing desks with treadmills
underneath them? ;)

~~~
amelius
Sometimes, I get the best ideas while in the shower, so I'm not sure it is
even the act of "moving" that does it.

~~~
danieltillett
For solving problems showers are faster, but walking is better for higher
level problems requiring greater thought. A shower is great for knocking out a
block quickly, while if I have a really hard problem a long walk is better.

~~~
crusso
I wonder if there's a patent on a treadmill shower desk.

~~~
dagw
Now just add a fridge and a microwave and you'll almost never have to get off.

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Snarkolx
Perhaps a boost in creativity isn't solely restricted to walking but other
activities which don't involve the task at hand (as others have mentioned)?
For example, even doing a simple crossword puzzle to distract yourself may
boost your creativity vs concentrating solely on trying to do something
'creative'. I highly recommend Professor Richard Wiseman's book: '59 Seconds:
Think a little, change a lot' which references some studies involving topics
similar to this.

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mettamage
Intuitively I do this all the time. Whenever I have pressing life questions I
go on a walk and from time to time think about the options I can take. I find
for myself that it's easier to see the bigger picture than when I'm sitting.
Perhaps it's also that the analogy of moving forward in life and moving
forward in real-time helps.

In the case of this study, I'd guess that walking excites the supplementary,
pre-motor and the motor cortex, as well as some attentional processes devoted
to it from the prefrontal cortex (PFC) compared to just sitting. If this is
the case, then I have two hypotheses why this works. (1) Because the motor
cortices are involved, the PFC are easier excited as well. (2) Since some
attentional processes are devoted to walking it's easier to think in a
divergent manner, because there's less conscious and sub-conscious room for
convergent thinking.

I don't know how to test hypothesis 1, but hypothesis 2 has probably already
been tested in cognitive science (I just didn't look it up). Reports where
people get distractor tasks in the experimental group and a similar task as
the main task in the control group probably exists.

What do you think?

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pibefision
I hate how everyone references Steve Jobs like the only one who walked to be
creative.

~~~
astrodust
I hate how when people hate that Steve Jobs walked to be creative they don't
mention others as counter-points.

~~~
yellowapple
I hate how people implicitly demand counter-points when others express their
hatred regarding Steve Jobs being commonly referenced as an example of walking
to be creative.

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ExpiredLink
This was known for centuries if not millennia.

~~~
hrnnnnnn
It's still worth studying formally.

In the 19th century everyone knew that you could determine if someone was a
criminal by studying the shape of their skull.

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antonp
On a related note; I really enjoyed this[1] podcast. It's an interview with
Olivia Fox Cabane - the author of a book that explores the science behind
creative thinking.

[1][http://theartofcharm.com/podcast-episodes/olivia-fox-
cabane-...](http://theartofcharm.com/podcast-episodes/olivia-fox-cabane-the-
science-of-creativity-and-genius-episode-395/)

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poulsbohemian
I've been a remote worker for the past ten years. If I'm on the phone, I'm up
walking around the neighborhood because it helps me to think clearly while
talking but also it gives me an excuse to get out of my chair. Unfortunately,
more and more groups want to video conference which is annoying because I
can't really do that while on the move.

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mark_l_watson
I usually work at home, which is in the mountains in Central Arizona. A big
part of my daily routine is a combination of short and long walks on the
trails starting behind our house (forest service land).

Even when I had my office in La Jolla California, I favored business
conversations during walks along the ocean.

Absolutely being outside and getting light exercise helps creativity.

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thomasfromcdnjs
“Thoughts that come on doves’ feet guide the world.” - Thus Spoke Zarathustra

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benguild
I agree. I walk all of the time back and forth between home and the office and
it's great to have time to reflect and reconnect using an idle mind.

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gclaramunt
it might be pop sci, but the explanation I heard long time ago is: creativity
is boosted by beta brain waves, (associated with daydreaming) Physical
activities that don't fully engage your brain (walking, exercising, taking a
shower, etc..) increment beta waves. On the other hand, increased focus and
alertness, is associated with alpha waves, coffee produces that effect thus
reduces your creativity

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pombrand
We need a follow up study comparing the effect size to that of showering..

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m_alexgr
"Trust no thought while sitting" (Thoreau)

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ppradhan
duh, pacing!

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spacko
Stanford study finds eating reduces hunger (2016)

~~~
yellowapple
I don't know. There are some things, like veggie "burgers", that just leave me
more hungry after I've eaten it.

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dang
Arguably a dupe of
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7669818](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7669818),
but creativity through walking is such a great thing we'll give it a pass.

But why was this posted 3 times today?

~~~
denzil_correa
> But why was this posted 3 times today?

Completely a co-incidence for me. Yesterday, I had a discussion with some
friends about creative process and how I like long walks. Today, I saw this
2014 article on my Twitter TL. Hence, the share.

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ausjke
Do we really need study like this...this is like eating well is good for your
health.

~~~
noir_lord
Yes we do.

These studies put "that which we already know" on a testable basis and also
allow us to look at the underlying mechanisms, often we find that the
underlying mechanism is counter-intuitive to our assumptions (this is often
the case, the universe rarely works the way we'd expect) so dismissing it with
"Of course, we knew that" is frequently wrong.

You say "eating well is good for your health" but of course eating well is
predicated on knowing which things to eat for health and how do we know that
via studies on human nutrition of course!.

