According to a study authored by Marily Oppezzo and Daniel Schwartz of Stanford Universities education psychology department, walking can increase an individual’s creative inspiration.
The two created four different experiments aimed at testing a persons creativity after they had either walked or sat near a blank wall for anywhere from five to 16 minutes. In three of the studies individuals had to think of creative uses for everyday objects and in the fourth, individuals were tasked with creating analogies to describe short phrases.
The result of these four experiments was amazing. 100% of the participants who walked outside were able to generate at least one “high-quality” novel analogy whereas on 50% of those who were seated indoors were able to generate a novel analogy. And in the three creative use tests, individuals who walked on a treadmill had a 60% higher creative output. While this showed that walking increases creativity in these individuals, it also illustrated that it does not matter if you are indoors or out. It is the act of walking and not the environment that triggers creativity.
