Consider this surprising, yet ordinary, way to become more creative

Has the pandemic unexpectedly generated a wave of creativity? If you’ve been walking, the answer could be yes.

Like many, I’ve been semi-housebound for at least 18 months. I’ve never been a gym rat, but I did start, in January 2020, going to a gym that helped me get a good workout in 45 minutes. But then, like everyone else, the doors shut in March 2020, and I found life on Zoom in everything from work to strength training to yoga to online classes.

But the activity that helped me stay most sane was being outside, walking with the dog, for an hour or more, if possible. What I didn’t realize at the time is that researchers from Stanford University had learned a few years ago that walking increases creativity.

The study, published in 2014 (https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2014-14435-001) maybe be more relevant than ever. The researchers found that walking increases creativity levels. Let that sink in. Just the simple act of walking can make us more creative.

What’s great is that, while many of us always felt more creative during or after a walk, these researchers confirmed it.

One of the interesting findings is that even walking inside on a boring treadmill helps generate creative responses. Also, the creative juices keep flowing even after the walker sits down.

As good as this sounds, the researchers found some caveats (of course they did!). While walking helped with brainstorming, it didn’t do so well on helping walkers find answers to very focused problems that require specific correct answers. In other words, walking is associated with divergent, broad thinking, but not so much with more convergent or focused thinking.

One of the researchers says, “We’re not saying walking can turn you into Michelangelo, but it could help you at the beginning stages of creativity.”

Best of all, they claim the study gives a leg up to the notion that walking helps boost our ability to come up with new ideas. Not bad for the simple act of walking.

Maybe some good things will come from this pandemic.

Nancy Napier is a distinguished professor at Boise State University in Idaho. nnapier@boisestate.edu. She is co-author of “The Bridge Generation of Vietnam: Spanning Wartime to Boomtime.”