Why Great Ideas Often Start in the Water
By Jordan Fargo
The other day, I couldn’t help but have a flashback to my time on my college’s club swim team. It was nearly 9 p.m. by the time we finished practice. After a long, 20-minute walk through Cornell’s huge, gorgeous campus, you’d think that I’d be exhausted by the time I got home.
You’d be wrong. In fact, my brain was firing on all cylinders and ready to go like I had just woken up.
I’m sure many of you out there can attest to this feeling. After a long swim, whether it was in the morning or at night, you come home, have a nice meal, take a hot shower, and you feel like you’re ready to do something productive. Your brain feels activated, similar to a factory running like a well-oiled machine.
I’d often get back to my dorm room and, instead of watching YouTube videos in bed until I passed out, find myself writing. Book chapters, poems, essays, acts of a screenplay, whatever it may be. The ideas flowed smoother than the water at the pool. My brain felt alive and brimmed with energy after almost every swim.
At first, I thought that maybe it was just my brain in desperation mode, knowing that if I didn’t complete my work that night, then I wouldn’t have enough time in the morning to do it before class.
However, as time went on, I was writing for fun. I craved that creative rush I felt after practice. Even if my body ached, my mind did not. It was a beautiful cycle, one that I had never felt before. My body created art in the pool (unless I was doing breaststroke), and my mind created art on paper.
Why did this happen, though? What was it about the sport of swimming that got my creative juices flowing like this? It turns out that there was more science behind it than I initially thought.
It’s already well-known that swimming does wonders for your brain, from reducing stress and fighting depression, to improving circulation and enhancing focus. Swimming is the ideal sport for calming your thoughts and focusing on the here and now.
This aids in creative ideation because when you’re in the pool, you’re not in front of computer screens or the noise of the outside world. It’s just you and your brain, and the ability to temporarily detach yourself from the outside world is what gives your brain a clean reset.
You might not feel that higher level of thinking right away, however. Sometimes it can be difficult to refocus your brain and enter that creative space, and to let your mind wander. Whether you’re going through personal stuff or just had a long day at work, sometimes the water won’t give you that mental refresh right away.
Indeed, many swimmers only feel an increase in cognitive function after they finish their workout, according to a 2019 study done by Physiological Reports. I can personally attest to that, as there were times that those ideas didn’t pop into my head until that long walk home.
No matter whether the ideas arrive in the pool or out of it, there’s no denying the fact that water gets your brain going. Many of my friends in college that were in arts majors liked to swim in their free time, and now I see why.
Pools are commonly referred to as “blue spaces,” which is any outdoor place that includes water. Even though the pools at Cornell are indoors, I was still able to get the full benefits of that blue space. The color blue, along with that peace and solitude I felt while I was swimming, worked wonders for me.
Every time I swam with my club team, not only did I feel a sense of community with the people around me, but I also felt a sense of calmness that I could not achieve throughout the day. Walking to classes up steep hills, with groups of freshmen taking their sweet time right in front of me, as well as the freezing temperatures and noisy traffic, did not exactly create a relaxing environment.
In the water, though, I felt free. My mind could wander and explore topics that it had no time or energy to visit during the day. My background noise was simply splashing water, compared to people loudly typing on laptops or cars honking or construction crews working. That outside world was reduced to nothing, to just me, myself, and I.
To any aspiring writers or artists out there, or really anyone who wants to clear up their mind after a taxing day, I recommend that you go for a swim. It doesn’t have to be a two-hour marathon if you’re not feeling it. Just a nice, comfortable swim that’s long enough to help you exit the loudness of the real world, and enter the peaceful quiet of a blue space.
Your brain will thank you with a reset and much clearer thinking, whether it’s while you swim or on the car ride home. No matter who you are or what you do, even if you’re not a writer or artist, you’ll be able to think smarter and feel free once you exit that water. The ideas and level of mental clarity you experience might shock you.
That, I think, is one of the greatest gifts that swimming can provide.