Why Do We Think Best While Moving?

The problem is that we usually try to do exactly that while sitting at the same table, in the same room, and in the same environment where we solve everyday tasks and challenges.

Yet, judging by both ancient experience and modern scientific findings, human beings are not (always) designed to make the most of their intellectual and creative capacities while sitting alone in front of a screen or attending an overly long meeting. Quite the opposite: our brains tend to solve problems most effectively when we are moving. Creative ideas are more likely to emerge when we are active and when we are not alone.

This awareness is not new. The connection between thinking and movement is most commonly associated with Aristotle and his Peripatetic school at the Lyceum in Athens. The very name of the school is linked to walking and the covered walkways where his students gathered. Although historians are cautious about the romantic image of Aristotle constantly teaching while walking, the fact that philosophical discussions took place in promenades and public exercise grounds clearly shows how far ancient education—and thinking itself—was from today’s image of a closed classroom or conference room.

In recent decades, psychologists and neuroscientists have also explored this topic. One of the most frequently cited studies was conducted in 2014 by Marily Oppezzo and Daniel Schwartz of Stanford University. Through a series of experiments, they compared people’s creative thinking while walking and while sitting, concluding that participants generated significantly more new ideas when they were walking.

Of course, walking alone will not solve a business problem, nor will every walk end with a brilliant idea. However, the research confirms something many people have probably experienced firsthand: sometimes it is enough to stand up, take a walk, or change your surroundings to see a problem from a different perspective.

Psychologists often associate such situations with a process known as “idea incubation.” When we briefly step away from a task, the brain does not stop working on it. On the contrary, this is often when information is connected in new ways and solutions emerge that were not obvious just minutes earlier.

Even more interestingly, the same principle does not apply only to individual thinking.

That is why some of the best conversations often happen during a walk, a bike ride, a hike, or simply over a shared lunch after an activity. In such situations, people tend to communicate more naturally, feel less constrained by hierarchy, and share ideas they might never voice during a formal meeting.

This is precisely one of the reasons why active business outings and well-designed team-building events provide value that extends far beyond the activity itself. No one will solve every business challenge while kayaking or walking through a forest. But it is entirely possible that such moments will spark a conversation that later leads to a better solution.

Perhaps that is why some of the best ideas are not born in meeting rooms. They emerge on a trail, beside a river, on a bicycle, or during a simple walk after lunch. They emerge where people move, talk, and momentarily forget that they are trying to solve a problem.

Especially when you have a reliable partner who understands the true and deeper value of team building and takes care of every detail, allowing you to enjoy yourselves, connect with one another—and think.