Waterfalls and the Brain

A couple of years ago I read a book written by a brain researcher who discovered how profoundly physical environments correlate with intelligence and brain function. They would measure brain usage and activation in different environmental settings. From that research, they developed a spectrum of environmentally-influenced intelligence, going from most conducive to least. They found people were most intelligent and creative next to a rolling waterfalls, mainly due to charge of the negative ions in the air (another reason fountains are good in an office to stimulate creative thinking). In contrast, they were least stimulated into original and creative thought in a room in an office building that has no windows, no natural air, and no natural lighting - in other words, a typical meeting or strategic planning room. That environment stimulated the least brain activity of the 20 or so places they had measured.

This picture of Boulder Falls was taken by my boyfriend during our trip to Boulder last week, where we got a refreshing dose of negative ions.