Problema 2 · Inglés PAU Valencia Extraordinaria solapamiento 2025

HOW A FEW MINUTES’ EXERCISE CAN UNLEASH CREATIVITY

Often, when we hear about the benefits of physical activity, researchers are really referring to the benefits of fitness – the product of regular and repeated physical activity. But what’s interesting about creativity is that it appears to be enhanced through the very act of moving the body. “Even a single, brief session of aerobic exercise can ignite creative thinking,” says Dr Chong Chen, assistant professor in the department of neuroscience at Yamaguchi University, Japan, and author of a new review on the topic. How brief? One study that Chong was involved with looked at the effects of climbing four sets of stairs – an activity that took just a few minutes.

If you’re thinking: “My life isn’t creative, so this is irrelevant to me,” think again. Many challenges in our lives call upon our creativity, be it devising a business plan, making a tasty meal from leftovers, inventing a lifesaving vaccine or entertaining your children. “We commonly associate creativity with people who ‘make things’ – artists and architects, poets and playwrights,” says Dr Christian Rominger, a postdoctoral researcher in health psychology at the University of Graz. “But all of us have both the potential, and the need, to be creative.”

So, what is it about physical activity that unlocks creativity? It has long been known that exercise benefits the brain, in terms of both mental health and cognitive function. “When performed regularly, aerobic activity can trigger structural changes, such as increased brain volume, particularly of the hippocampus, which benefit many aspects of cognition, such as working memory, attentional control and information-processing,” says Amir-Homayoun Javadi, a professor in cognitive neuroscience at the University of Kent. “This gives the brain more potential to be creative.”

But such adaptations take time. How can simply walking up a few steps have an effect? Acute exercise (i.e., a single exercise session) temporarily improves blood circulation, Javadi suggests, bringing fresh oxygen to the brain and increasing the production of neurotrophic factors – proteins that promote the growth and survival of brain cells. All the experts I interviewed for this article stressed that there’s still a lot we don’t know about the relationship between creativity and exercise. Is simple, repetitive movement better than something more complex? Why doesn’t exercise seem to benefit the more evaluative aspects of creative thinking? The research is ongoing. But for Chen, what we do know has real value and should be used.

Adapted from an article by Sam Pyrah, The Guardian 4-03-2024

2. Answer the following questions using your own words but taking into account the information in the text. (2.5 points: 1.25 points each)

a)

According to Javadi, how does physical activity benefit creativity?

b)

What aspects about the relationship between exercise and creativity are still unknown?