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Creativity
How to Cross-Train Your Brain
Exercises for better focus and creativity.
Posted March 8, 2022 Reviewed by Abigail Fagan
Key points
- Sitting for long periods of time can kill creativity and focus.
- Sharpen your focus by taking short, frequent movement breaks. Boost your creativity by changing your routine.
- Training the body to move more creatively can train the mind to think more creatively.
The brain is revered for its incredible ability to think and create. These skills are governed by its most evolved region, the prefrontal cortex. Our expansive prefrontal cortex is what separates us from all other animals. It’s why we don’t just react to the world, we interact with it. It allows us to reflect on what we’ve learned from the past, imagine what it could be like in the future, and set plans in motion to make our thoughts a reality. Just look at all the incredible things we’ve accomplished.
But we don’t always think great, do we? Sometimes we see things as possibilities. Other times we see those same things as roadblocks. If you’ve been seeing more roadblocks lately, you may be sitting too much. A deadline at work may cause you to work on that project until the job is done. Although that may seem all well and good, it can be counterproductive. Sitting in the same spot doing the same thing for hours kills focus and creativity. Where does that leave you? Stuck in a virtual rut. Here’s how to get unstuck.
Move the Body, Refocus the Mind
Prolonged sitting reduces blood flow to the brain making it harder to stay focused. A short movement break is all it takes to refocus the mind. My lab has shown that short exercise breaks are better than no breaks or sedentary breaks when it comes to refocusing a wandering mind. Our study used high-intensity bodyweight exercises, but light and moderate movements would work too. That’s because within the first 15 minutes of exercise, all forms of exercise yield a similar boost in oxygenated blood flow to the prefrontal cortex, though more oxygenated blood rushes in the longer and more vigorously you exercise.
Cross-Training for Creativity
Thinking great is not just about staying focused. It’s about being creative too. When we think creatively, we think outside the box and use our imagination to create novel and appropriate ideas. Although creativity can be cultivated through many different forms of movement including walking, yoga, running, swimming, biking, and stair climbing, certain sports produce more creative athletes. Can you guess which ones? The answer may surprise you. It’s not artistic sports but net and combat sports. Why? Because cultivating a creative mind depends on how we train.
In artistic sports (like figure skating, gymnastics, and synchronized swimming), the athlete memorizes a series of predefined steps. Although coming up with these steps may be creative, the training itself is prescribed, predictable and planned. As the athlete physically trains, her brain trains too but this form of physical training makes the brain more focused but less mentally flexible. In contrast, in net and combat sports (like badminton, racquetball, volleyball, fencing), the athlete learns to instinctively react to the ever-changing actions of their competitor. Training is more impulsive, unpredictable, and improvised. As the athlete physically trains, his brain trains too but this form of physical training makes the brain more flexible and creative. The bottom line is this: Training the body to move more creatively trains the mind to think more creatively.
No matter the exercise options you gravitate towards, be careful not to spend too much time on one activity or you may inadvertently train yourself into a funk — the dreaded state of functional fixedness. Where you get stuck in a conventional rut doing the same thing over and over in the same way. Athletes who train exclusively in one sport are less creative than those who train in more than one sport even if they play the other sport for fun. So, if you’re looking to boost your creativity and innovating thinking, try changing up your routine with a new route, activity, or sport. I’ve included workouts designed to boost focus and creativity in my book Move the Body, Heal the Mind.
The information provided here is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to replace advice from your health care provider.
References
Fenesi, B., Lucibello, K., Kim, J. A., & Heisz, J. J. (2018). Sweat so you don’t forget: Exercise breaks during a University Lecture increase on-task attention and learning. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 7(2), 261–269.
Giles, G. E., Brunyé, T. T., Eddy, M. D., Mahoney, C. R., Gagnon, S. A., Taylor, H. A., & Kanarek, R. B. (2014). Acute exercise increases oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin in the prefrontal cortex. Neuroreport, 25(16), 1320-1325.
Richard, V., Abdulla, A. M., & Runco, M. A. (2017). Influence of skill level, experience, hours of training, and other sport participation on the creativity of elite athletes. Journal of Genius and Eminence, 2(1), 65-76.
