Want to Be More Creative? Take a Walk

• exercise/walking improves thinking skills, immediately and in the longer term
• exercise -> better memory & ability to make decisions, organize thoughts
• but prolonged, intense exercise -> brief mental fatigue!
• walking improves our ability to generate more and better creative ideas, even when we sat down after the walk
• Inside or outside, the environment doesn’t matter, but walk!

• The heart pumps faster, circulating more blood & oxygen to the brain.
• We don’t have to be so conscious during walking, our attention is free to wander.

-> After/during exercise, even very mild exertion, people perform better on tests of memory and attention.

Walking on a regular basis :

• promotes new connections between brain cells,
• prevents the usual withering of brain tissue that comes with age,
• increases the volume of the hippocampus (crucial for memory) & levels of molecules -> stimulating the growth of new neurons