Move More to Boost Creativity

Author Henry Thoreau remarked that his thoughts began flowing “the moment [his] legs began to move,” while some authors and artists go on a long walk to become creatively inspired.   Lorenza Colzato, from Leiden University (The Netherlands), and colleagues studied the effects of acute moderate and intense physical exercise in relation to different thinking skills. The team found that those who exercised for four times a week were able to think more creatively than those with a more sedentary lifestyle. As well, those subjects who exercised regularly performed better on a series of cognitive tests.  The study authors report that: “acute exercise may affect both, divergent and convergent thinking.”