Dimming the lights can increase your creativity by making you feel 'free from constraints' People in dim light are better at solving creative insight problems Those in normal light are no more creative than those in bright light And we can become more creative just by thinking about being in dim light Dimming the lights can increase your creativity levels, new research reveals. German researchers found that people sitting in dim light are significantly better able to solve creative insight problems than those working under normal or bright lights. However, people working under normal lights are no more creative than those in very bright light. People sitting in dim light are significantly better able to solve creative insight problems than those working under normal or bright lights They also discovered that people who work under dim lights feel "free from constraints." The researchers, at the University of Stuttgart and the University of Hohenheim, believe that this perceived increase in freedom improves people's creative performance. Medical Daily reports that a person can actually increase their creativity just by describing sitting in the dark because of a psychological effect known as priming - this occurs when a person moves an idea to the forefront of their brain by recalling it. The researchers drew these conclusions after asking two groups of people to sketch an alien. They found that the people who recalled sitting in a dark room drew more creative aliens than those who first recalled sitting in a bright room. However, they believe that dim lighting is only beneficial for ideas generation, not for the analysis and implementation that follows. People who work under dim lights feel 'free from constraints' and this perceived increase in freedom improves people's creative performance The researchers do not know why people are more creative in dim light, but believe it could be because people feel more comfortable in the dark as light exposes mistakes. "Darkness changes a room's visual message," they told Medical Daily. They went on to explain that moving from a dark room to a light one can have a symbolic significance - like a "Eureka" moment.