Boredom is the key to Creativity

It is a rainy day, and you are listening to a teacher drone on monotonously about a subject you are not particularly interested in. This is the epitome of experiencing boredom. There are many moments in life when boredom seems unproductive and futile; however, science has proved otherwise. Boredom is the optimal platform for ideas and creativity to grow in the brain. Oftentimes, when constantly faced with stimuli, the brain reacts to overstimulation by becoming less interested in them. When there is less stimulus, such as during boredom, the brain becomes more interested in the surroundings (Robinson, 2022). When in a state of boredom, the brain can finally rest and focus on ideas as they form. Ideas are like seeds, and boredom is like water; they need each other to grow in a healthy balance.  

MedicalNewsToday data show that the average adult spends 131 hours per year in boredom (Cohut, 2019). Most adults dread these days, such as a slow rainy day at work, because they are unaware of the benefits boredom can offer. Being in a state of boredom lets the mind wander, which can lead to profound discoveries and ideas. Famous physicist Albert Einstein embodied this idea. Einstein’s love of sailing and being on the water enabled him to discover many of his scientific breakthroughs about the universe (Livni 2018). Not only does your brain generate ideas, but it also rests during this period, which is vital for optimal test performance and emotional intelligence. 

Many experiments have been conducted to explore the effects of boredom on the brain. For instance, Sandi Mann, a psychologist, found that individuals who perform boring tasks before a stimulating task generate more creative ideas than people who are constantly stimulated (Cohut 2019). Additionally, Washington State University led experiments on whether people react positively or negatively to boredom (Cohut, 2019). Participants were monitored with an electrocardiograph (EKG), which recorded brain activity while in the experiment. To induce boredom, scientists placed a peg on a screen and instructed participants to click it whenever it was highlighted. Every time they clicked on the peg, it would quarter-turn. The entire experiment consisted of 320 clicks of the peg. The results showed that the left-frontal part of the brain lights up when people engage and react positively to boredom. However, the opposite occurred to people who had a negative reaction to the task; their right-frontal part of the brain lit up. The right frontal part of the brain mainly controls and individuals creativity and emotional processing. The left-frontal part of the brain commands logic, judgment, and reasoning throughout the body. These findings suggest that people who cope with boredom have more left-brained activity, proving that simple logic and reasoning are all it takes to respond well to monotony. The experiment director claimed that people can react positively to boredom. The possibility of using boredom as a platform for new, creative ideas is a huge discovery that must be applied to everyone (Cohut 2019).

Boredom is not only evident in humans, but in other animals as well. A study explored how minks react to the state of boredom. A mink in a non-enriched (NE) cage – a cage with very little stimuli – would be compared to a mink in an enriched cage (E) – a large cage with compartments and a small water hole. Every morning, stimuli, such as a plastic bottle, a scented candle, a moving toothbrush, or a predator's silhouette, would be dropped into the cage as scientists observed the mink's reaction for 15 seconds. After that, 30 treats would be dropped into the cages, and data would be collected on how many treats were consumed by the minks in 15 minutes. The findings concluded that minks in the NE cages had significantly more interest in the stimuli than minks in the E cages. Additionally, the minks in NE cages consumed more treats than the minks in the E cages. This proves that animals have a higher interest in their surroundings if they are in a state of monotony. Minks in the NE cages also showed that when lying awake with their eyes open, they would become more interested in the stimuli. Rather than depression or apathy, as predicted before experimenting, the NE minks went into a healthy state of boredom. This evidence represents how boredom can be used as a tool to become increasingly interested in the impetus that surrounds you (Mason 2012). 

Both animals and humans demonstrate that a controlled state of boredom is a vital way to foster new ideas and become interested in everything around you. In daily life, monotony should be balanced. Not too much, not too little. But humanity must shift the predetermined mindset that boredom is bad. Rather, a state of the mind that can aid imagination.  So, next time you say you find something boring, think about how much potential that an unoccupied state gives you to be creative and explore the beautiful world that surrounds us all.

References

Cohut, Maria. “What Happens in the Brain When We Are Bored?” Www.medicalnewstoday.com, 9 July 2019, www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325697.

Bryan Robinson. “Why Neuroscientists Say, “Boredom Is Good for Your Brain’s Health.”” Forbes, 2 Sept. 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/bryanrobinson/2020/09/02/why-neuroscientists-say-boredom-is-good-for-your-brains-health/. 

Meagher, Rebecca K., and Georgia J. Mason. “Environmental Enrichment Reduces Signs of Boredom in Caged Mink.” PLoS ONE, vol. 7, no. 11, 14 Nov. 2012, p. e49180, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0049180. 

NeuroHealth Associates. “Using EEG to Look at Boredom and How to Help People Cope.” NeuroHealth Associates, 27 Aug. 2019, nhahealth.com/looking-at-how-the-brain-reacts-to-boredom-could-help-people-cope/. 

Perone, Sammy, et al. “Over and over Again: Changes in Frontal EEG Asymmetry across a Boring Task.” Psychophysiology, vol. 56, no. 10, 23 June 2019, https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.13427. 

Ephrat Livni, and Ephrat Livni. 2018. “Albert Einstein’s Best Ideas Came When He Was Aimless. Yours Can Too.” Quartz. June 8, 2018. https://qz.com/1299282/albert-einsteins-best-ideas-came-while-he-was-relaxing-aimlessly-yours-can-too. 

Contributors, WebMD Editorial. 2021. “What You Need to Know about the Frontal Lobe.” WebMD. April 27, 2021. https://www.webmd.com/brain/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-frontal-lobe.