Does nature free creativity? Find out in Canada's wilderness
- Text by D'Arcy Doran
How much of a toll does the daily, relentless information overload take on our brains?
Our routine life can leave our minds prone to mistakes, unable to focus and just plain fatigued, but University of Utah cognitive neuroscientist David Strayer has found a possible cure: Nature.
After returning from just three days in beautiful natural surroundings, he found that a group of 28 backpackers performed 50 percent better on creative problem-solving tasks. A massive improvement in a such a short amount on time. Strayer calls this “The Three-Day Effect.”
It wasn’t hard science, but recently a few members of the Huck team put the idea of a digital detox to the test in Canada’s Algonquin Park — an off-the-grid nature reserve half the size of Wales — while shooting with Fred Sirieix, an avowed social media addict, world traveller and also Maitre D’ on Channel Four’s First Dates. Fred shares his impressions after three days in the diary-style video above.
Check out more shorts from our Explore Canada series here. For more Huck films, you can also subscribe to our YouTube channel.
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