In this modern day and age, we’re riddled with a plethora of alcoholic beverages saturating the market. Some brands state the benefits of drinking right on their labels. And while most of these claims aren’t taken seriously, there is a belief that alcohol consumption helps get our creative cogs turning.
Here’s How Your Brain Gets Creative Without Alcohol
The brain. That big muscle cradled by our skull is the center for all human reasoning and logical thought processes. Our brains produce creative ideas based on what we have stored in our memory as knowledge gained from areas of expertise or past experiences. Think of it as idea production in several stages. Different parts of your brain pull up different thoughts, ideas, and perspectives before forming one that leads to that Eureka moment. And imagine achieving all this without a drop of whiskey. Aren’t humans amazing?
How Drinking Gives Your Creative Process A Boost
As an organic compound and a major component of alcoholic beers, wines and other drinks. Alcohol has a huge amount of influence on human thoughts, actions, and speech. The percentage of alcohol taken by anyone gets to the brain and can affect the thinking and cognitive features. Studies have shown that alcohol allows the human brain to forget some good deal of its cognitive, known and stored knowledge that is mostly used in solving problems. This opens up the capacity for innovative ideas which serve as a basis for creative results in any situation.
When alcohol enters your system, the creative source of the brain is flipped over. It begins to function with the opposite of situations when not under any alcohol influence. So when it comes to you flexing your creative biceps, your creativity is basically cranked up to eleven. The brain is found to always jettison a cognitive and stored knowledge base when searching for creative and inventive ways around a problem. Under the influence, the actual ‘think out of the box’ work starts by bringing suggestive ideas outside of the bubble of your memory.
Too much alcohol, however, pulls some gauze over your cognitive processes and produces the opposite effect of creative thinking.
So What Happens When You’re…
Stuck in a rut while you’re doing some creative problem-solving? Get some alcohol into your system. But remember, drink in moderation.
Looking for more creative inspiration? Try out these habits to build throughout your creative life. Or check out why every creative should consider living abroad.