You’re on the treadmill. Your blood is pumping, sweat is running down your face and your brain is flooded with endorphins. In that moment, the answer to a week-long problem suddenly comes to you. Here at ODEA, we call those “treadmill thoughts”. Many of us experience “AH-HA” moments when doing something monotonous like taking a shower, running (or walking!) on a treadmill, or even going for a long drive. Why is that??
Because we are so curious as to why this happens to us, we did a little research. It turns out there is an actual science behind this phenomenon. Professor John Kounios of Drexel University in Philadelphia says the “default mode network” is the culprit of these moments of brilliance.
To learn more about the science of default mode network, listen to this week’s podcast episode of Brain Lava:
If you want to learn even more, click here to read “What’s up with That: Your Best Thinking Seems to Happen in the Shower” for more on Professor John Kounios.