Have you ever come out of the shower with a fresh perspective, new ideas, or a solution you hadn’t thought of before?
The process our brains go through to generate new insights is quite different from when we’re solving analytical problems. There is some fascinating science behind creativity, which suggests that very specific conditions can enliven your imagination.
Why Your Best Ideas Come in the Shower
Research shows that creativity spurs from these 3 things:
- Dopamine — Activities like taking a warm shower, listening to music, cooking and exercising releases dopamine in the brain.
- Relaxation — The dopamine triggers calmness and relaxation.
- Distraction — The relaxation disrupts the commotion in your head. As your subconscious is allowed to meander, it touches on new ideas and plants them into your conscious mind—the “light bulb” moment.
“You to have to let your mind wander a bit, like we did when we were children. We didn’t have all these other things on our mind, we didn’t have email to look at, we didn’t have social media to bring up every two seconds, and we just had time to think.”
In the video discussion, Sue Shellenbarger of Wall Street Journal and Tor Myhren look at what context, time-of-day and mood have to do with generating bright ideas.
