Have you ever noticed that a long hot shower can bring you clarity and spark some of your best ideas?
Sometimes you can spend days ruminating on an issue and, suddenly, in the sacred space of your shower, with the warm water hitting your back, the answers you’ve been steadily chasing just come to you.
It’s not just a myth. A shower really can be a place of insight and clarity — if you approach it in the right mindset. There’s actual science behind it.
It’s common to get your best ideas in the shower.
It’s not just anecdotal. There’s actual science behind it.
Basically, it has to do with the brain’s Default Mode Network, which is a collection of brain regions that are active when the brain is not engaged in a specific task.
The DMN helps us reflect and process our experiences; it’s active when we’re daydreaming or “spaced out.” It’s also responsible for creativity and problem-solving.
It can’t activate when we’re in fight-or-flight mode, also known as the sympathetic state. It can only come online when our nervous system is regulated and in rest mode, which is known as the parasympathetic state.
A long hot shower feels like a safe place. You’re warm, it’s calm, you know what to do, you know you won’t be disturbed, and there’s no complicated task to perform. Your nervous system can enter the parasympathetic state.
This lets your mind wander, which is when the DMN kicks in.
The sensory experience of the water — the feeling of the water on your body, the sound of the water dripping — can also be soothing, but the DMN doesn’t activate just from the water alone. For this to work, you must give yourself time and space.
Another way to activate the DMN is through repetitive movement or routine that you don’t have to think about. Movement is ideal, as that gets you in flow — whether it’s a walk in nature, a bike ride, a swim, a run, or something else equally low-effort. You can also do things like coloring, cooking, sorting your silverware into drawer sections, or other “puttering” activities.
Love it? Hate it? What do you think? Don't hold back...