In this blog article we explore a link between matcha tea and creativity delving in the science behind it. While historically it has been hard to study creativity due to its fleeting and elusive nature, latest advances in neuroscience allow us to get some insight on what happens in our brain when we arrive at new ideas. Scientists have been looking at neural correlates using neuroimaging technology and have come to some interesting observations.
It shows that logical thinking and creativity are not the same thing. While there are overlaps between the two, essentially they’re different processes in our brain. So what happens in our brain when we have a new idea?
It has been observed that the insight experience starts with a momentary decline of neural activity in our prefrontal lobes - the part of our brain that monitors and guards us from taking risks. To think creatively, we need to be willing to let our guards down and immerse in the unknown.
Next there is a burst of alpha waves at the back of our brains, on the right hand side, that shuts down part of our visual cortex. This in effect allows our brain to blink, cutting off outside distraction and directing our attention inwardly. Meditation is also known to lead to the production of theta and alpha waves - brainwaves associated with enhanced learning abilities and mental wellbeing. This is where matcha green tea comes into the picture, or more specifically a special amino acid L-theanine that matcha contains. Similar to meditation it has a calming effect on our brain by creating alpha waves. That is why a bowl of matcha has evocative powers and can get your creative juices flowing more freely. It boosts the brainpower and improves good mood. The latest neuroscience studying matcha effects on the brain also observed its antidepressant-like effect and reduction in anxiety.
After establishing a link between meditation, matcha and creative thinking via alpha brainwaves, let’s come back to the process of creative insight. What happens after the burst of alpha waves? It is very quickly followed, half a second later, by a spike in gamma waves in our anterior superior temporal gyrus, on the right side of our brain, positioned just above our right ear. This is where we experience a flash of insight, inspiration, solution to our question, and where we overcome our old ways of thinking. It is as if preceding alpha waves allowed a faint idea to bubble up from the subconscious into the surface by cutting off the distractions, enabling a new idea to manifest in our consciousness.
Scientists now believe that logic uses shorter dendrites or pathways that are more common in the left hemisphere of our brains, compared to the broader branch dendrites in our right hemisphere. These longer, less organised networks gather a broader and more unrelated set of inputs, and therefore associations, allowing a more diverse set of thoughts to meander and collide.
The ability to think in new and novel ways therefore requires us to take risks by immersing into different experiences, to slow down, to meander and to look inward. Together they alter our brain cognitive habits, allowing our mind to make new associations.
This research suggests that new ideas occur when there is frequency shifts in our (alpha and gamma) brainwaves. Knowing that, we can immerse ourselves into enabling rituals that create better conditions for creative bursts - one of them being afternoon matcha. Making a bowl of matcha is a creative process in itself, a form of meditation – like writing a poem, painting or drafting up new project concept. It gives us a break from what we were doing, allows us to slow down and direct our senses inward - an ideal ritual to boost your creativity.
Leaps of imagination may seem as if to arrive from nowhere, but latest science tells us we can all be more creative by immersing ourselves into certain enabling practices for our brains to sparkle with new insights. Both individually and collectively as a group.