Ideas Arrive When You Walk — Movement and the Brain

Good ideas do not arrive at the desk; they arrive while walking — and that is not merely a feeling.

The effect of exercise on the brain is among the most active research areas of recent years: aerobic activity is reported to enhance factors supporting the growth and survival of neurons, with benefits for memory-related regions, mood stability and concentration, and experiments have reported broader idea generation while walking.

Until I left for Canada at eighteen I was nothing but an athlete; I could not study, but I never stopped moving my body — and perhaps those years built the foundation of my brain. When a management decision jams, I stop sitting and thinking. I walk. I go to meet someone. Move the body first, and stalled thought begins to move.

The brain is not sealed inside the skull; it is an organ connected to the whole body. When your thinking thickens, stand up. The answer is probably outside.

What do you work for?