BY: JESSICA BEUKER
If you’re a writer, artist, musician, actor, innovator, entrepreneur, or creative of any kind, then I’m sure you’ve at one point or another hit the dreaded creativity block. The next time you’re completely out of ideas and feeling uninspired, perhaps try taking a long shower—it’s where 72 per cent of people get their best ideas.
In the new book, Wired to Create: Unravelling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind, psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman and Huffingtonpost senior writer Carolyn Gregoire explain the origin of our most creative moments. According to Details, Kaufman found that 72 per cent of people around the world get their best ideas in the shower.
This is likely because a shower frees your mind from critical thought and allows it to wander freely—eliminating distractions.
According to the Huffington Post, “A shower is also, quite literally, a place of incubation—a change of scenery from the rest of our everyday lives that’s relatively free of stimulation and distractions. Showering insulates us from the external world so that we can focus all of our attention on our inner desires, daydreams, and memories—thereby increasing the likelihood that our mind will come up with creative connections.”
Of course, this idea could be applied to other things as well, such as going for a walk in a quiet area, sitting outside, fishing or taking a leisurely drive. The monotony of these tasks means that your brain doesn’t have to do a lot of work and is free to roam and daydream. According to Mental Floss, “daydreaming relaxes the prefrontal cortex—the brain’s command center for decisions, goals, and behavior.”
However a shower plays on other creativity-boosting factors as well. Not only is it relaxing and secluded, but according to Mental Floss, the timing of our showers also plays a role. Most people shower either in the morning or the night, the times that you are most tired – and also happen to be at your brain’s creative peak.
So the next time you’re scrapped for new ideas, don’t just sit in front of your computer searching for an answer—jump in the shower and let your mind do the rest.
