Cannabis, Creativity, and 7 Hacks For Finding Inspiration

Stuck in a creative rut? 

It can happen to anyone! That's why we've curated seven proven tips for getting your creative juices flowing again. Plus, we've included interesting findings from a late 2022 study on the relationship between cannabis and creativity- the results may surprise you!

So, without further ado, let's jump right in! 

Ever feel like you're in a more artistic state of mind after walking? You're not the only one! A study conducted by Stanford University found that this simple activity was correlated with a staggering increase in creativity. 

Afterward, each group was instructed to perform a creative task. The creative output of the two walking groups beat that of the sitting group by 60%! Interestingly, the report states that the participants' increase in "creative ideation" was seen "in real time" and "shortly after."

So, if you find yourself twiddling your thumbs while working on your next masterpiece, take a break and go for a walk. As the results show, you don't have to even go outside to realize the benefits! 

Controlling for other factors, the researchers then examined the creative output of such individuals. The results indicated that rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, characterized by intense dreaming, enhanced the creative problem-solving of participants significantly.

 

So, if you ever find yourself stuck while trying to perform a creative task, it might be best to sleep on it and return to it later. 

>>> SEE ALSO: 12 Tips For Getting A Good Night’s Sleep

In 2019, Creative Control, a podcast from Fast Company, had an episode dedicated to how changing your surroundings can boost creativity. 

In this episode, they interviewed Robert Epstein, a senior research psychologist at the  American Institute for Behavioral Research, who stated: 

Now, you don't have to shell out the cash to go to an artist's retreat if you feel stuck in a creative endeavor.

Changes in your environment can be minor such as sitting in a different part of the room, introducing a new item on your desk, or even a trip to the coffee shop. 

In 2012, psychologists from the University of Utah and the University of Kansas conducted a study investigating how time in nature affects creativity. They sent 56 participants on four-to-six-day wilderness hiking trips in Alaska, Colorado, Maine, and Washington State.

24 of these individuals took a creativity test the morning before their backpacking trip, and 32 took the test on the fourth day of the trip. On average, the people on the fourth day of their outdoor adventure demonstrated considerably higher levels of creativity. 

So if you're suffering from a lack of inspiration, take a hike. 

Our instinct when solving a creative problem may be to take a closer look, but, according to a 2018 study, it can also help to take a step back. 

Researchers at the University of Groningen and SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities were interested in how our attention to peripheral, rather than central details, affected creative problem-solving. They had participants come up with solutions to a problem either imagined to be close at hand or imagined to be at a distance. 

They found that participants who perceived the problem as far away came up with more creative solutions. They defined this as broad attentional scope, or "the ability to utilize peripheral stimuli and process information globally." 

Sometimes a shift in perspective makes all the difference. If you're trying to devise an innovative solution to a problem, try to disconnect yourself from it slightly, and imagine it at a distance. 

It's no secret that attitude is everything, but that holds especially true when you're trying to get creative. 

Back in 2019, researchers from the University of Bologna and the University of Trieste studied the effect of emotional states on the evaluation of ideas (a critical component of the creative process). 

Participants had to find non-creative, mildly creative, and highly creative uses for everyday objects. They found that participants had higher creativity ratings under positive emotional engagement than neutral or negative ones.

Looking on the bright side isn't just a cheesy mantra, it's also sound advice for your next creative endeavor. 

In ancient Greek mythology, creative ideas came to mortals from goddesses referred to as "Muses." 

The science sides with Chuck on this one. 

In 2016, researchers at Southwest University Chongqing found that the brain undergoes structural changes induced by consistent divergent thinking, aka "thought processes used to generate ideas by exploring different possible solutions." 

 

Basically, your creativity is kind of like a muscle. And with regular "exercise," it only gets stronger...with real, structural changes in your brain. Rather than wait for inspiration to strike, stimulate your brain with intellectual activities, and see new ideas come to life.

Can THC help spark new ideas? 

In a study involving 300 cannabis enthusiasts in the state of Washington were given one of two creative tasks within either 15 minutes or 12 hours after vaping THC or smoking a joint. 

One task was for participants to list as many creative uses as possible for a brick. 

The other was to imagine that they worked at a consulting firm helping a local band increase its revenue, for which they had to devise as many creative ideas as they could to help this hypothetical band out. 

Throughout both tests, a group of third-party judges had to determine the creativity in the ideas developed by participants who consumed cannabis and those who did not. 

So what happened?  The study revealed that participants who smoked or vaped were a bit more...jovial when completing their tasks. 

However, the judges did not find any noticeable differences in creativity between the sober control group and those who consumed cannabis.