Creative thinking improves while a person is walking and shortly thereafter, according to a study co-authored by Marily Oppezzo, a Stanford doctoral graduate in educational psychology, and Daniel Schwartz, a professor at Stanford Graduate School of Education.
The study found that walking indoors or outdoors similarly boosted creative inspiration. The act of walking itself, and not the environment, was the main factor. Across the board, creativity levels were consistently and significantly higher for those walking compared to those sitting.
For me, (and probably for most people), any repetitive dull action stimulates your brain. Walking is one of those. A long time ago, I used to spend entire days just swinging on this one swingset. Just absorbed in thoughts, not even noticing it getting dark or anything. Almost like some sort of self hypnosis, or meditatory state.
I appreciate what you say about swinging (kind of like being rocked in a cradle), but I personally wouldn’t call walking a repetitive dull action. Perhaps that’s because I live in a stimuli filled city that requires attention, but either way, walking requires a certain level of attention and hasn’t been dull for me since I finished highschool. And even then, the dullness had more to do with the destination than it did the walk itself.
That said, I’ve written a lot on my iPhone while walking and some of the best stuff emerges, possibly due to the exercise hormones in combination with the fresh air.
There is a saying in “sal vitas peramvulum” solve it while you walk. most of the Roman orators if they were looking for inspiration they walk couple of miles to warm up their bodies and minds. in fact there is another saying by the sapartans saying: “men sana encorpore sano” a sound mind is a sound body. it goes hand in hand together.