Brain on the Move: How Walking Sparks Mental Clarity and Creative Breakthroughs

Moving your feet moves your ideas: Discover the science behind why walking unlocks the mind’s full potential

Walking is like bodybuilding for our brains. It activates many areas of the brain, literally setting them in motion. Photo: Yvonne Vávra

I solve most of my problems, and I usually have some, with my feet. See, my mind is a dancer. More of a twister and shouter, to be honest. It twists around my problems all day without any desire to stop and solve them. And then the shouting. So much shouting.

Here’s what helps: walking. In my overwhelmed moments, walking emerges as my knight in sneakered armor. I’m lucky to live in New York, because the sensory power of this city never fails to stir my mind. With all the stink and flicker everywhere, and over there, someone riding a bike while balancing a mattress on his head, and, see that one over there, looking like Prince, peeing into a construction site hole? In these streets, it’s impossible to stay stuck in your own head. Instead, my mind turns into an empty canvas with plenty of space for all kinds of thoughts to come and play, then leave again — and maybe come back. The steady left-right-left-right of my feet sets off an inner murmur, like the rolling waves of the sea. My mind adapts to the rhythm of my body — or maybe it’s the other way around — and all that harmony lulls me into a state of…