Get Some Exercise to Boost Your Performance at Work

Approximately 1.4 billion persons globally do not participate in sufficient physical activity, with one in three women and one in four men falling into this category. Physical inactivity is twice as terrible in high-income countries as it is in low-income ones, and there has been no increase in physical activity levels since 2001.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) launched a global action plan in 2018 with the goal of reducing physical inactivity by 15% by 2030. The WHO aims to maximize the benefits of physical activity by promoting it and encouraging people to exercise regularly. These benefits include the prevention and management of non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases (including coronary heart disease and stroke) and different types of cancer, enhanced physical and mental well-being, improved cognitive function, and healthy growth and development.

Research on how physical activity affects outcomes at work, such as work performance and health, still needs to be completed despite the widespread recognition of its positive effects on overall well-being. Given that more flexibility and convenience are now possible thanks to numerous evolving work modes, this is even more crucial. As a result of the fact that many of us no longer have to walk or commute to work, we are finding ourselves sitting more and moving less.

How physical activity impacts performance at work

Since we spend the majority of our waking hours at work, our recent research highlights some significant consequences of physical activity for the workplace, supporting the WHO's mission to promote physical exercise.

Throughout a 10-day trial, we collected objective and self-reported physical activity data (using a wearable intelligent band device) as well as supervisor- and self-reported work outcomes from almost 200 employees in the UK and China. We discovered some critical information regarding regular physical activity that affects workers and businesses:

Motivation for physical activity predicts physical activity.

Having the motivation to engage in an activity would result in engaging in it. Still, as anyone who has ever set and then broken a New Year's resolution will attest, this is only sometimes the case. Autonomous motivation, a consistent individual variance that indicates an individual's level of self-determination to act, is an essential personal asset that can encourage people to exercise. Crucially, people are more likely to participate in regular physical activity if they perceive physical activity as a pleasurable activity rather than something to avoid. It is because autonomous motivation is a stronger motivator than fear.

Physical activity accrues next-day, work-relevant resources.

The daily physical exercise produced "resource caravans," or packages of resources for the following day, which we found helped with work-related results.

A person's level of contentment with their daily sleep experience, or quality sleep, is the first resource that physical activity directly provides. Exercise encourages the production of proteins and improves restful sleep, both of which are beneficial homeostatic feedback processes for the body and brain. Vigour, a practical resource linked to vigor and energy, is the second resource gain. Task focus, a cognitive resource that promotes improved information processing, attention, and concentration, is the third resource gain.

Physical activity improves next-day work performance and health.

Previous research on the benefits of physical activity atwork has concentrated on certain times of the day (e.g., working out during lunch break) and ignoring. This has further led to inconsistent results because workers may feel as though their energy and focus have diminished just after physical activity, which could interfere with their ability to do their work.

All of this is to suggest that reaping the benefits of physical activity at work can take some time. Indeed, our study reveals that physical activity has a time-lag effect on health symptoms, inventiveness, and task performance the following day. The daily physical activity of employees throughout the day creates resource caravans comprising physical (sleep), affective (vigor), and cognitive (task focus) resources, which further contribute to the following day's work performance and health outcomes in different ways, as we consistently found across two studies. Affective and cognitive resources are better predictors of self-rated creative performance; physical and affective resources help to lessen everyday physical discomfort; and cognitive resources make a more significant contribution to daily task performance.

Work self-efficacy shapes the capacity to gain resources from physical activity.

Work self-efficacy, or an employee's belief in their ability to do their work, increases the effects of regular physical activity on sleep quality and task attention, which are resources. Higher self-efficacy individuals typically have more positive attitudes about their drive and capacity to obtain resources for their work through regular physical activity.

What to do to become more active

If you've noticed that you move less when working remotely, try these three scientifically proven strategies to get the many advantages of being more physically active:

Focus on building a habit of daily physical activity.

Anything worthwhile should finish gradually. Keep going even if you don't immediately see that physical activity is helping you at work. Our study focused on the effects of physical activity that are time-lag and manifest the following day; it showed notable gains in resources that supported health and performance outcomes. Focus on developing new, healthy behaviors every day, and the benefits will become apparent eventually.

Remember that some is better than none.

We frequently talk ourselves out of exercising because we're too exhausted, hungry, anxious, or preoccupied (even with ourselves!). Our results support the World Health Organization's view that "some physical activity is better than doing none." According to WHO guidelines, persons between the ages of 18 and 64 should participate in at least 1.25 hours of high-intensity physical activity or 2.5 hours of moderate-intensity physical exercise each week to maximize the positive health effects of physical activity and minimize the adverse effects of inactivity.

According to our research, the most beneficial type of physical activity for improving physical, affective, and cognitive resource gains that further enhance task performance the following day, creativity, and health outcomes is moderate-intensity physical activity. Moderate-intensity exercise is a more realistic objective for many people because high-intensity exercise may be more prone to injury. In contrast, low-intensity exercise may take more extended participation to realize resource gains. Furthermore, we discovered that even brief bursts of physical activity—a mere 20 minutes a day—were adequate to produce benefits for workers' health and task performance the following day.

Motivated or not, get moving!

Our study shows that regular physical activity has advantages even for workers who detest working out. Additionally, we discovered that autonomously driven people are more likely to engage in physical activity, indicating that the "fun factor" is a significant motivator for engaging in physical activity. Choose an activity that will make exercising more pleasurable and less taxing. If you don't feel like going to boot camp, consider taking a boxing class or a strenuous walk. Aim for just 20 minutes the next time you want to forgo exercise in favor of a cozy couch.

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