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Finding Your Spark: How Exercise Kickstarts Creativity
We already know that regular exercise is good for our physical health, helping to keep our systems in good shape and disease at bay. We are also beginning to discover the ways in which exercise positively affects our mental wellbeing. But the question of how exercise might affect our more abstract brain functions (like our capacity for original thinking) has always been more difficult to answer.
However, a recent scientific study has indicated that exercise can make us more creative. The study found that people who are physically active are more likely to be innovative and come up with original ideas. While the scientists couldn't guarantee that your ideas would be genius or world-changing, they did conclude that daily movement gets your creative juices flowing.
We may think of creativity as something that only artists, musicians or novelists have access to, but that's not true. You don't need to be artistic to be creative. Everyone expresses their creativity differently. We are being creative when we find solutions to problems we encounter in our everyday lives, like how to fix a piece of broken furniture or rearrange our schedules to squeeze in an unexpected errand.
In this way, creativity is an important tool for us to have on hand, and the more we nurture it, the better off we will be. While our daily level of creativity will always ebb and flow, the new study suggests that there is something we can do to increase it: get moving.
Whatever movement means to you - a brisk walk, morning cycle, yoga workout, weightlifting routine - being active may help you to problem-solve and generate new ideas more effectively. So, head out for a jog, hop on your bike — you might just find the spark you've been looking for.
