Volunteering in nature could give creativity a natural boost
By Lifestyle Correspondent
From Einstein and Steve Jobs to Nietzsche and Wordsworth, some of history’s great thinkers, scientists, artists and poets have credited nature with inspiring their ideas.
Now, new research suggests that spending time outdoors could give everyone’s creative thinking a boost.
Academics from the University of Winchester studied professional office workers who spent a day volunteering either at a WWT wetland nature reserve, at a school or care home, or carrying on with their usual work.
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The researchers found that volunteering generally improved mood and feelings of restoration, but the benefits were strongest among those working outdoors in nature.
Those volunteers also reported higher levels of inspiration and showed some signs of being better able to keep generating creative ideas throughout the day.
Professor Paul Sowden, who led the study, said: "Spending time in natural spaces promotes restoration of attention and a sense of ‘being away’ that could be ideal for the kind of mind-wandering and incubation of ideas that supports creativity.”
Dr Jonathan Reeves of WWT said: “The results show that wetlands can provide an extra boost to some of the benefits of volunteering – such as improved mood, cognitive restoration and inspiration.”
“The changes were small, and relate to just one episode of volunteering, but they beg the question how large this impact might become if wetlands are scaled in urban environments to allow population-wide, daily moments of psychological refuge, restoration and inspiration.”
The Blue Sky Thinking study was funded by Bank of America and carried out with WWT, the Wetland Charity.
Blue Sky Thinking is available to read in full here.
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