According to a recent report in the Dailymail, UK, a few jolts of electricity are probably all that you need to get rid of your writer’s block. Researchers ran a 10-Hertz current through brains of 20 volunteers, aiming to stimulate alpha wave oscillations linked to creativity. Researchers in North Carolina claim that zapping the brain with a mild electric current can boost creativity by nearly eight per cent. Flavio Frohlich, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina said: ‘If we could enhance these brain activity patterns, then we could potentially help many people.’ Alpha oscillations occur within the frequency range of eight and 12 Hertz 9 (or cycles per second) and happen most prominently when we close our eyes and shut out sensory stimuli – things we see, feel, taste, smell, and hear. When alpha oscillations are active, your sensory inputs might be offline as you daydream, meditate, or conjure ideas. ‘That’s a pretty big difference when it comes to creativity,’ Frohlich said. ‘Several participants showed incredible improvements in creativity. It was a very clear effect.’ ‘We don’t know if there are long-term safety concerns,’ he said.