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The positive effect of walking on creative thinking (2014) [pdf]

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Re: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking (2014) [pdf]

#131

Post by brightly-salty »

resonious wrote: post #73
KVFinn wrote: post #58

I listen to audiobooks while walking and it makes it easier to focus and overall more enjoyable. I also discovered that human memory is weird as heck. When I walk my mind is somehow mapping my physical location in the world to the content, down to the sentence. If I rewind an audio book I can fairly often remember where exactly I heard a particular sentence. The precise street corner or park trail I was on, to like a…

I remember being told in college that students who take tests in their usual classroom tend to score better than students who take tests in, say, some random auditorium or testing center.

This is known as context-dependent memory [0]. Interestingly, it also occurs with your mood and other cognitive states: If you’re always happy in your class, you’ll perform better if you’re happy for your test, and vice vers if you’re sad.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Context-dependent_memory

Re: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking (2014) [pdf]

#132

Post by loloquwowndueo »

wingerlang wrote: post #48
bbig wrote: post #12

Lately I've been walking 20 km per day (~12.5 mi). Takes at least 3.5 hours. I try not to listen to any audio -- I just let my mind wander. To step it up a notch, I put on a weighted backpack (i.e. ruck). I'm typically carrying 30 lbs, sometimes 50. This raises the heart rate and roughly doubles the caloric burn. Low injury risk, too. Michael Easter's book "Comfort Crisis" has a nice chapter on rucking. I just wish i…

That's a lot of time spent walking, how does a typical day look for you in terms of work?

People who spend a lot of time in mindless remote meetings (the kind that proliferated during the pandemic) can take most of them while walking. There’s a ton of resources on walking meetings going back many years, some are geared towards just grabbing the attendees and all going for a walk, whereas the tendency these days is for remote / video / audio meetings.

There are even tools that transcribe meeting audio and try to extract summaries, agendas and actions from the discussed material.

Re: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking (2014) [pdf]

#133

Post by widg3t »

bbig wrote: post #12

Lately I've been walking 20 km per day (~12.5 mi). Takes at least 3.5 hours. I try not to listen to any audio -- I just let my mind wander. To step it up a notch, I put on a weighted backpack (i.e. ruck). I'm typically carrying 30 lbs, sometimes 50. This raises the heart rate and roughly doubles the caloric burn. Low injury risk, too. Michael Easter's book "Comfort Crisis" has a nice chapter on rucking. I just wish i…

I'm an avid walker (I guess rucker, considering I always wear my backpack). My worst is when passing cars stop and offer me a ride. Apparently it's socially acceptable/normal to run, though.

Re: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking (2014) [pdf]

#134

Post by hbn »

bmitc wrote: post #37

I have personally never enjoyed walking as a time to think or mentally relax. If anything, it stresses me out as my mind wonders around, obsesses, etc. I find that doing more strenuous activities or activities that require more attention, such as various yard and gardening work, do more to clear my mind. It’s the same thing with lifting weights or running. They are so monotonous and boring that I would much rather do…

Weightlifting is the only one that's ever really clicked for me, and I think it's cause I feel like I'm making some sort of obvious progress. Getting strong and being able to lift more, seeing muscles grow, pushing myself and exhausting my muscles, knowing I'm getting those micro-tears that will heal back even stronger.

Plus being at a gym, around other people who are working out feels motivating. Including more attractive women around than I'm used to ever seeing in day-to-day life!

Re: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking (2014) [pdf]

#135

Post by gizajob »

kashyapc wrote: post #85

I don't know about creative thinking ... but consistent walking sure as hell helped jump-start my running life. Here's my little story. I'm 37 and was never a runner, but last October a friend dragged me out for a run. We ran a 5K straight-up (at ~6m:30s/KM). It's not a "couch to 5K", as I'm lean and bicycle a lot ("zone 2" cardio) as part of my daily life, eat healthy, and put in many walks and some hikes over the p…

Well done

Re: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking (2014) [pdf]

#136

Post by starkd »

KVFinn wrote: post #58

I listen to audiobooks while walking and it makes it easier to focus and overall more enjoyable. I also discovered that human memory is weird as heck. When I walk my mind is somehow mapping my physical location in the world to the content, down to the sentence. If I rewind an audio book I can fairly often remember where exactly I heard a particular sentence. The precise street corner or park trail I was on, to like a…

I've noticed this observation can be used in a useful memory hack. If you need to pick something up at the store (say, toothpaste), visualize toothpaste as if you're in that aisle. Next time you are in the store passing that aisle, the prompt tends to come up. It's worked without fail for me several times.

Re: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking (2014) [pdf]

#137

Post by walthamstow »

harpratap wrote: post #25
leobg wrote: post #7

"Sit as little as possible; do not believe any idea that was not born in the open air and of free movement — in which the muscles do not also revel… Sitting still… is the real sin against the Holy Ghost." -Nietzsche In fact, he composed most of his works during long walks: "I would walk for six or eight hours a day, composing thoughts that I would later jot down on paper."

Darwin had a special Thinking path [1] he would take to start his day [1] - http://www.wildlifewonder.co.uk/darwins-thinking-path

Assuming the home they mention is Downe House, I have walked in his steps many times and not even known it

Hayes to Downe is a beautiful walk on the very edge of SE London, much of it technically inside London while being genuinely rural

Re: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking (2014) [pdf]

#138

Post by agumonkey »

KVFinn wrote: post #58

I listen to audiobooks while walking and it makes it easier to focus and overall more enjoyable. I also discovered that human memory is weird as heck. When I walk my mind is somehow mapping my physical location in the world to the content, down to the sentence. If I rewind an audio book I can fairly often remember where exactly I heard a particular sentence. The precise street corner or park trail I was on, to like a…

Correlates with all the mental tricks to associate data with other senses, the 'path-in-room' memorization tricks, or synesthesia kinds.

Reinforcing the brain seems to be about creating links. (not always though)

Re: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking (2014) [pdf]

#139

Post by magic_hamster »

bbig wrote: post #12

Lately I've been walking 20 km per day (~12.5 mi). Takes at least 3.5 hours. I try not to listen to any audio -- I just let my mind wander. To step it up a notch, I put on a weighted backpack (i.e. ruck). I'm typically carrying 30 lbs, sometimes 50. This raises the heart rate and roughly doubles the caloric burn. Low injury risk, too. Michael Easter's book "Comfort Crisis" has a nice chapter on rucking. I just wish i…

I started doing this and got to walking ~10-15km per session, but boy does it take a long time. It gets old fast. Music helps but at some point the time cost is just too high. I started swimming instead and it feels like 30 minutes in the water is roughly equivalent to 2 hours walking, though I'm not a very good swimmer.

There is definitely a risk for injury walking. Aside from the obvious risk of tripping over, you can also mess up your feet and your back, especially when carrying weight. I didn't have any knee problems but apparently that's another risk.

Re: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking (2014) [pdf]

#140

Post by mettamage »

lee wrote: post #127

I discovered the 12 hour walk from a podcast ( https://12hourwalk.com/ ) where the idea is to really contemplate and analyze your life by walking alone, without any music or distractions, for 12 hours. I've yet to try it, and am thinking maybe doing a shortened version at first (3 hours maybe?). But I could see how it would be a way to wrestle with your thoughts.

Try a vipassana meditation retreat ;-)
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