Recommended Readings
More reasons to walk
When I stop, I cease to think;
My mind only works with legs.
Why Walking & Writing?
“When we go for a walk, the heart pumps faster, circulating more blood and oxygen not just to the muscles but to all the organs—including the brain. Many experiments have shown that after or during exercise, even very mild exertion, people perform better on tests of memory and attention. Walking on a regular basis also promotes new connections between brain cells, staves off the usual withering of brain tissue that comes with age, increases the volume of the hippocampus (a brain region crucial for memory), and elevates levels of molecules that both stimulate the growth of new neurons and transmit messages between them.”
“Walking at our own pace creates an unadulterated feedback loop between the rhythm of our bodies and our mental state that we cannot experience as easily when we’re jogging at the gym, steering a car, biking, or during any other kind of locomotion. When we stroll, the pace of our feet naturally vacillates with our moods and the cadence of our inner speech; at the same time, we can actively change the pace of our thoughts by deliberately walking more briskly or by slowing down.” – Ferris Jabr
Four experiments demonstrate that walking boosts creative ideation in real time and shortly after. In Experiment 1, while seated and then when walking on a treadmill, adults completed Guilford’s alternate uses (GAU) test of creative divergent thinking and the compound remote associates (CRA) test of convergent thinking. Walking increased 81% of participants’ creativity on the GAU, but only increased 23% of participants’ scores for the CRA. In Experiment 2, participants completed the GAU when seated and then walking, when walking and then seated, or when seated twice.
Again, walking led to higher GAU scores. Moreover, when seated after walking, participants exhibited a residual creative boost. Experiment 3 generalized the prior effects to outdoor walking. Experiment 4 tested the effect of walking on creative analogy generation. Participants sat inside, walked on a treadmill inside, walked outside, or were rolled outside in a wheelchair. Walking outside produced the most novel and highest quality analogies. The effects of outdoor stimulation and walking were separable. Walking opens up the free flow of ideas, and it is a simple and robust solution to the goals of increasing creativity and increasing physical activity.
The Interdisciplinary Walks project was funded by the Leicester Institute for Advanced Studies (LIAS) between May and July 2022. It set out to encourage staff members to think outside their own disciplinary silos whilst getting familiar with University of Leicester surroundings, from the main and north campus to the School of Business at Brookfield, and the Space Park. Consultations with 29 members of staff asking about their interdisciplinary research and favourite walks were conducted via Zoom and recorded for use on the WordPress site <www.leicias.le.ac.uk>. Intended outputs from the Interdisciplinary Walks project included an A5 map booklet (with a print run of c.500 copies) drawn by illustrator Amy McKay, web content including edited audio
recordings of consultations and accompanying transcripts, and six visualisations of the audio clips created by visual storytelling agency Nifty Fox Creative. This working paper provides an overview of the project as it progressed, with the final sections reflecting upon the benefits and challenges of interdisciplinary research and the value of walking and thinking as viewed by academic researchers. The consultations recognised the importance of access to parks and green spaces, and identified four key walking behaviours: walking alone, together, to disconnect, and to focus. The project concludes that by understanding individual preferences in how we walk, researchers can harness the potential of walking as a tool to improve mind, body, and research.
To read the paper, click the link below.
This chapter examines data from science and the humanities on the mental, emotional and physical impact of walking and proposes pedagogical applications to enhance student learning and wellness. Colleges should capitalize on this generational shift by designing campuses that are safe, comfortable and convenient for walking and by more deliberately mobilizing walking within and beyond the curriculum. In light of the many benefits of walking for mental and physical health, academic skills
and creativity, it makes sense that colleges actively promote walking. While walking should not replace the work of mental health practitioners in crisis situations, it can help on the level of preventive care. Many people with mental illness have found that walking helps them manage their inner anguish. The rhythmic alternation of steps can put the walker into a relaxed, but fully aware alpha state that is conducive to creative thinking.
To read the paper, click the link below.
This paper investigates the interdisciplinary and symbiotic links between creativity and physical activity in order to present a template for a physically-active creative. Co-written by a Creative Writing and a Sport and Physical Activity academic, the research draws on existing literature across both disciplines and original quantitative and qualitative research. A er exploring examples of famous writers and artists who undertook exercise as part of their creative process and incorporating a review of studies on creativity from the physical activity and sport context, this article then moves on to present results from
a 2018 Pilot Study, undertaken at the University of Stirling, and a 2021 online Graduate Event, conducted in partnership with the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities. In doing so, the authors conclude by proposing three nonprescriptive recommendations for how to incorporate physical activity into a creative routine and foster a best practice that utilises concepts from the eld of sport and physical activity to further understand and develop the creative process.
Walking has been a practice in and an essential component of the lives of many educators, philosophers, researchers, and writers in both historical and contemporary times. However, little research has been done to explore what walking means to these people and how walking influences their work. In this project, Veronica interviews five people to explore their walking practices with a focus on teaching, learning, and writing in higher education. The participants come from a range of roles that include emeritus faculty, research and teaching faculty, and a doctoral candidate. She conducts interviews while both walking and being seated with participants
since walking, as a go-along interview method, is a secondary focus of the research. Through the interviews, six themes emerged: (1) walking as roots, (2) walking as experiential, (3) walking and metaphor, (4) walking pragmatics and practicalities, (5) walking in academia, and (6) walking as a method of research. Veronica discusses these six themes through the literature, what the participants have offered, and her understandings of how walking is an under researched aspect of academic culture and practice. The project concludes with the insights and implications of what walking practices offer to educational philosophy in general, higher education, educational research, and her own practice.
To read the paper, click the link below.
