That's the thing, going and walking around or going to a social event... it's not clear which one will help you solve your problem. Sometimes sitting quietly and thinking about an issue helps me, sometimes it leaves me chasing red herrings. Sometimes closing my eyes and visualizing helps me, sometimes it's about as useful as chewing bubble gum. Sometimes inspiration will strike for seemingly no reason... the other day I literally had to get out of the shower with shampoo in my hair to send myself an e-mail. I've been working on a hard problem for the past few weeks, at this point I'd say a considerable portion of the "clever fixes" have come to me in my dreams... I'll literally just wake up with a new idea about how to approach the problem that weren't even on my radar when I went to bed.

Also, social events and casual conversation is a great way to be social and engage in conversation while excising rubber duck debugging. So long as you make it entertaining for the other party, it's fun... explaining how stuff works for people who are curious is usually fun for both parties.

It's different strokes for different folks for sure, but don't limit your stroke options... and try not to get shampoo in your keyboard.

Actually, chewing bubble gum is apparently very good for stimulating your brain.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/22/chewing.gum.benefits/in...

I recall two other similar studies:

1. People who get migraines are probably chewing too much gum (that is, chewing too much in general.)

2. There's a sharp increase in dementia when people lose their teeth, and this is likely because they aren't chewing enough.

Neither of these were particularly strong studies (the first of the two only had a sample-size of 30, if I recall) but they do support one-another on a general hypothesis: chewing plays a large and necessary part in oxygenating your brain.