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Taking a walk may lead to more creativity than sitting, study finds (2014)

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Re: Taking a walk may lead to more creativity than sitting, study finds (2014)

#171

Post by abnry »

astura wrote: post #130
stego-tech wrote: post #42

I was a doubter until COVID. Then I built a habit of 30 to 60+ minutes of walking a day, ~1.5 to 5mi depending on length and pace. Geez , the amount of stuff I got done, problems I solved, and general boost to well-being I achieved was lost on me until a job pushed those walks out of the workday. My productivity wasn’t the same. Definitely going to block off a walk around the harbor during most workdays going forward…

Exactly the opposite for me, I tried to add 10 minutes of walking to my workday (midday) and I only lasted a month. I found it so distracting; I lose so much productivity, would be unable to concentrate for at least an hour afterwards, and sometimes for practically the rest of the workday. I absolutely do think exercise can help with work, in general, just not immediately after for me. A walk after work is much bette…

Are you carrying a lot of stress when you were walking 10 min mid-day? I think the wandering, creative mind is the goal and walking often facilitates that, but if some stronger force is keeping you away then it may not work.

Re: Taking a walk may lead to more creativity than sitting, study finds (2014)

#172

Post by LargoLasskhyfv »

BigTTYGothGF wrote: post #168
LargoLasskhyfv wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can speed up and jump out of the water, making big splashes when diving back in again. Obviously for fun. They won't just float under water, and their mechanisms of movement have evolved in their environment, just like ours did for us. I don't see your point? Not seeing the forest because of all the trees? Octopussies have fun moving in weird ways, too. Also exploring, and making fun of captors! Birds...did you…

> their five feathers on the ends of their wings are the equivalent of our fingers, neurologically/network-wise? When was the last time you saw a feather? (Or a bird).

Almost daily? Having Hummingbirds atm. Sometimes collecting them in a basket after sudden coldsnaps, warming them up slowly from hibernation, and feeding them :-)

Edit: Have you ever had a big white swan spread his wings, and touch his five feathers against the spread fingers of your hand? 'Gimme five' so to speak. I did.

As I did with Seagulls, Crows/Ravens, Starlings, Blue tits, Robins, city and forest Pigeons, and really long ago a common Swift, which I successfully raised.

Re: Taking a walk may lead to more creativity than sitting, study finds (2014)

#175

Post by bitmasher9 »

echelon wrote: post #129
kristiandupont wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It reminds me about this video where John Cleese talks about creativity. One of his points is that his work was better than some of his more talented peers simply because he set aside more time to let ideas mature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb5oIIPO62g

It's our evolutionary background. Land animals first evolved intelligence when we emerged from the cloudy, murky sea and developed the ability to see shapes (predators, prey) really far into the distance. This required the ability to understand the future and perform spatial reasoning. Not all aquatic species were exposed to such pressures (opportunities), since line of sight vision (especially traveling at speed) is…

I’m always very cautious of “evolution” as a justification for any health/wellness advice. I’d like to preface this point by saying I am a fan of daily walk, and do about 30mins of very hilly terrain daily. I just don’t like your argument for it.

1. It’s really easy to create a fictional narrative of what our ancestor’s activity was 50k years ago because of the lack of empirical evidence. The truth is we know only a little and guess at a lot.

2. It’s been associated with many false claims. So many fad diets, fad supplements, and fad exercise routines have made use of evolution to build a narrative of why it’s healthy. I’ve seen both carnivore and vegans use evolution to explain why their diet is correct.

3. The modern environment is just different than the pre-historical environment. We have clean drinking water, unlimited sodium, modern medicine, air conditioned and heated shelter. To me the real question is what is the healthiest decision for me, not what is the healthiest decision for someone 50k years ago.

Re: Taking a walk may lead to more creativity than sitting, study finds (2014)

#177

Post by criddell »

calmbonsai wrote: post #27
__mharrison__ wrote: post #24

Walking, showering, sleeping, and riding a bike are great ways to debug code. It's very cool to go to sleep and wake up knowing what the solution to the problem is. The key for incubation for me is to make sure my brain can churn without distractions (that means no listening to podcasts, music, etc while performing said action).

Truth. Nothing is a greater spurn to creativity (cyclic mental exertion) than time away focusing on cyclic bodily exertion.

The hard part for me is stepping away when I'm grinding on some problem. It always feels like I'm sooo close and this next idea could be the one that lets me walk away victorious.

Usually I'm wrong though and taking a break would be a much better use of my time. Walking, biking, noodling on my guitar, or even going for a drive all seem to work for me.

Re: Taking a walk may lead to more creativity than sitting, study finds (2014)

#179

Post by kelvinjps10 »

Cider9986 wrote: post #67
shrubby wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I decided to go offline for this summer. I got a dumb phone and a card for public transportation, instead of the app I'm using now. Downtime from the algorithmic manipulation has been the breeding ground for my creativity and this is one more step to this direction.

I wish more people knew you can turn iPhones and Androids into dumbphones through MDM and other methods. It would save people money , you wouldn't have to sacrifice security, and they wouldn't complain about losing Google maps or Signal. Result is no ability to install apps and no web browsing. It's really a smart, smartphone because you get the benefits of it being smart without becoming dumb through the distraction…

I deleted my browser and installed an app on my phone to block all apps except the ones that I have in an allowlist

Re: Taking a walk may lead to more creativity than sitting, study finds (2014)

#180

Post by Nevermark »

kristiandupont wrote: post #74
stego-tech wrote: post #42

I was a doubter until COVID. Then I built a habit of 30 to 60+ minutes of walking a day, ~1.5 to 5mi depending on length and pace. Geez , the amount of stuff I got done, problems I solved, and general boost to well-being I achieved was lost on me until a job pushed those walks out of the workday. My productivity wasn’t the same. Definitely going to block off a walk around the harbor during most workdays going forward…

It reminds me about this video where John Cleese talks about creativity. One of his points is that his work was better than some of his more talented peers simply because he set aside more time to let ideas mature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb5oIIPO62g

Jumping spiders are extremely intelligent for their size. Something they do when they encounter a complex problem is sit and apparently simulate potential solutions until they settle on a plan.

Their solutions can involve indirect routes, paths that initially increase the distance to their targets, etc.

Walking, or jumping, is inherent to their existence. But the ability to wait and iterate on possibilities is uncommon strategy for tiny things.

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