Why Lying Down on the Job Can Boost Creativity

Living room. Carmichael, California. Architecture and interior design by Mark Dziewulski Architect. Photography by Keith Cronin. From the book My Creative Space: How to Design Your Home to Stimulate Ideas and Spark Innovation by Donald M. Rattner.

My Creative Space: How to Design Your Home to Stimulate Ideas and Spark Innovation, 48 Science-based TechniquesBy Donald M. Rattner, Architect

Home as an engine of creativity has taken on new significance in light of the Covid-19 virus. This is the first of a series of research-backed techniques I’ll be sharing during the crisis for shaping the home to achieve peak idea generation. All material is adapted from my book My Creative Space: How to Design Your Home to Stimulate Ideas and Spark Innovation, 48 Science-based Techniques (2019).

Tactic #28: Lie down or recline while working on creative problems

WHY DO IT?

Scientists have found that people can solve creative problems 10% faster while reclining than when standing up.

WHY DOES IT WORK?

Lying down on the job turns out to be a good thing—if your job requires creativity.

In 2005, Australian psychologists Darren Lipnicki and Don Byrne observed that subjects laying on a mattress scored higher on insight problems involving anagrams than a group noodling the same puzzles on their feet.

Why the disparity? Scientists speculate that it has to do with a part of the brain called the locus coeruleus. When activated, as it is when we prepare to stand up or spring into action, this region causes a release of norepinephrine as a means of increasing the blood flow needed for locomotion. This substance also has the effect of raising alertness, energizing memory, and focusing attention — all helpful traits for someone about to become physically active, but contrary to the defocused, mind-wandering, dream-like style of mental processing that leads to breakthrough ideas. Lying down, by contrast, de-activates the locus coeruleus and in doing so shifts individuals into a more creative mindset.

HOW TO DO IT

Settle into a recliner, lounger, chaise, recamier, daybed, sleeper chair, sofa, divan, futon, fainting couch, bench, window seat, hammock, or any other piece of furniture that can cradle your outstretched body. Avoid using the bed you sleep in to work, as it can disrupt sleep patterns.

FAMOUS CREATIVE RECLINERS

Truman Capote, Michael Chabon, Frida Kahlo, Vladimir Nabokov, Virginia Woolf, Mark Twain, Marcel Proust, Winston Churchill

REFERENCES

Brunner, Bernd. “7 Famous Authors Who Wrote Lying Down.” Huffington Post (website). Jan. 7, 2014. goo.gl/Fu4Xeh; Gaskill, Laura. “How to Dress Your Daybed.” Houzz(website). Oct. 31, 2014. goo.gl/uyrhKp; Lipnicki, Darren M. and Don G. Byrne. “Thinking on Your Back: Solving Anagrams Faster When Supine than When Standing.” Cognitive Brain Research. 24 (2005): 718–722. goo.gl/PKSV9t; Wiseman, Richard. 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. Ch. 4, “The Power of Creativity.”My Creative Space: How to Design Your Home to Stimulate Ideas and Spark Innovation, 48 Science-based Techniques