Creativity and Exercise

I'm in the third week of P90X, and finding myself feeling more creative. I've always found that exercise helped me with creative thinking, but this is amazing. Too bad I haven't figured out how to do the writing AND the P90X at the same time! Here is a cool article outlining various ways that exercise helps brain function in general. One bit in particular stands out:

Physical Exercise Helps Higher Brain Functions-Study

Before enrolling in the trial, and four months later, the cognitive abilities of the participants were tested in four areas: memory, executive functioning, attention/concentration, and psychomotor speed.

Compared to the medication group, the exercisers showed significant improvements in the higher mental processes of memory and in "executive functions" that involve planning, organization, and the ability to mentally juggle different intellectual tasks at the same time.

"What we found so fascinating was that exercise had its beneficial effect in specific areas of cognitive function that are rooted in the frontal and prefrontal regions of the brain," said Blumenthal. "The implications are that exercise might be able to offset some of the mental declines that we often associate with the aging process."11

Very cool. So if you're feeling creatively blocked, try working out. It does help.