Walk Now, Write More!

May 7, 2019

Note From Rochelle

Dear Writers,

There’s still time to sign up for the From Mindset to Method: Virtual Marketing Summit on May 8th! In this daylong event, you’ll learn about the mindset you need to market your work with confidence. Then, you’ll get concrete tools and techniques to help you reach your audience and grow your business. The summit includes experts like Mindset Coach Krysti Turznik, Course Creator Jon Taylor, and Social Media Coach Phil Gerbyshak. Sign up and join us on May 8th: Mindset to Method

Austin Kleon will be at Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee on Wednesday, May 8 to talk about his new book, Keep Going: Ten Ways to Stay Creative In Good Times and Bad. Last time he was here, he stopped by the blog for an interview. In his new book, Kleon talks about how walking is an essential part of the creative life. In honor of his visit, I’m reposting a tip on the connection between walking and creativity.

Enjoy!

Rochelle

Walk Now! Write More!

by Rochelle Melander

All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking. —Friedrich Nietzche

Now that spring has arrived in Wisconsin—finally!—I’m walking more. In addition to my daily exercise, I take tiny walking breaks. In Write-A-Thon, I wrote about a study that showed that women who walked had better brain connectivity. But that’s not all! Recent research suggests that walking boosts creativity, improves concentration, and restores our ability to pay attention. Wow! Read on and learn what else walking does for us.

Walking Boosts Creativity

The American Psychological Association released a study on the creative benefits of walking (published in APA’s Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition.) While at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education, Marily Oppezzo, PhD, and colleague Daniel L. Schwartz, PhD, did a number of studies that found students who walked performed better on tests that measure creativity, especially free-flowing thoughts. They did less well on tests that required a single answer.

Walking Improves Concentration

Another study by Andrea Faber Taylor and Frances Kuo measured how walking in three different environments—nature, urban, and residential—affected children with ADHD. The children who walked in nature did the best on tests of concentration (almost as well as their peers without ADHD). (Journal of Attention Disorders OnlineFirst).

Walking Restores Attention

A study by Marc G. Berman, John Jonides, and Stephen Kaplan at the University of Michigan found that walking in nature can restore our ability to pay attention, something that usually diminishes throughout the day. For urban dwellers, it takes more than walking around outside—since paying attention to street and sidewalk traffic uses up more attention. Instead, head to a park for your walk.