The positive effects that physical activity promotes to the body are already well established. It plays a protective role against cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and hypertension, among other numerous diseases. In addition to the “physical” effects, it is also known the positive effects that physical activity exerts on mental health, promoting improvement in mood. In addition to these effects, a study analyzed routine body movement and its association with creativity, concluding that physical activity makes the individual more creative. Read on to understand how exercise makes you more creative.
Effects of Physical Exercise on Cognition
Physical activity and physical exercise, although the mechanisms have not yet been fully elucidated, has the ability to influence creativity. The practice of certain body movements relate sorders such as the development of thoughts and also the ability to create. A study associated these skills with the ability to invent, applying the Creative Thinking Torrance Test (TTCT), in which movements such as walking, running, lying and sitting were related to the greatest total capacity of creation.
In the study, it was possible to observe that physical activity had benefits with regard to affective behavior, as well as in creativity, immediately after the movements. One point to be considered is the controlled environment of conducting the studies, which, despite the validation of the methods employed, extrapolation of the results to the daily environment should be done cautiously.
Does the type of movement interfere with creativity?
The data found suggest that body movement performed in a mild, moderate or intense manner exerts positive effect on the individual’s ability to create, indicating that physical activity increases creativity, regardless of gender, age and BMI. However, lower intensity such as lying down and sitting, exercise reduced effects on the ability to create. That is, sedentary behaviors do not favor individual cognitive performance.
In addition to creativity, aspects such as the fluidity of ideas and originality are also positively associated with the realization of body movements, indicating that not only quantity, but also the quality of ideas are affected when the body is in motion.
Clinical Practice on physical exercise and creativity
Sedentary behaviors are associated with the development of mental disorders such as anxiety and depression, negatively affecting the health and well-being of individuals. Therefore, promoting and encouraging the abandonment of such behaviors is fundamental in clinical practice. Thus, the health professional can encourage the performance of 300 minutes of physical activity and/or physical exercise, according to the recommendation made by the WHO in order to promote the patient more quality of life, health, longevity and creativity.
referencesBody
Reading suggestion:
How metabolic communication occurs during physical exercise
Watch the Arnold Conference Experience video with Professor Antônio Arruda:
Physical Exercise and Weight Loss: Scientific News and Practical Applications
Article:
Everyday body movement is associated with creativity
Rominger, C., Fink, A., Weber, B. et al.
Everyday body movement is associated with creativity regardless of active positive affect: a Bayesian mediation analysis approach. Sci Rep
10 , 11985 (2020). HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.1038/S41598-020-68632-9
