You know exercise is good for you long-term, but do you know how much working out today will improve your performance tomorrow?
We all know that exercise is good for you. Aside from the obvious benefits to physical health, research shows that working up a sweat reduces anxiety and depression, boosts cognitive performance, and even slows aging.
These alone are pretty compelling reasons to get to the gym. Yet, long hours and exhausting responsibilities make it harder to dedicate time to working out when other things call.
However, a new study on the benefits of exercise may change your mind. The study, conducted by a pair of business professors out of Hong Kong, shows that exercise has immediate, measurable benefits for you at work.
You Don’t Need To Wait Long To See The Benefits Of Exercise
Everyone knows working out is good for you, but is it good for your performance at work or school? If exercise makes your mind and body work better, it seems reasonable to guess that exercise would make you better at your job or school, too. But this new study is among the first to test the idea directly and rigorously.
To do so, the team tracked the exercise levels of 200 volunteers over ten days using fitness trackers, while also monitoring their performance at work based on both self-reports and evaluations by superiors. The data confirmed that not only does exercise help you stay physically and mentally fit long-term, but it also helps you perform better at work the very next day.
The authors’ writeup of the results on Harvard Business Review is packed with jargon like “resource caravans” and “homeostatic feedback,” but here’s the bottom line: If you exercise today, you’ll likely sleep better tonight. As a result, you’ll wake up with greater energy and concentration and fewer aches and pains tomorrow — at least, once you’re in the swing of a routine — and that translates directly to measurable improvements in performance and creativity at work.
Exercise Isn’t Just Good For You Long Term. It Will Improve How You Do Your Job The Literal Next Day.
Here’s How To Break Free Of Your Excuses For Not Exercising
The most direct instruction is to stop making excuses and get off your butt. But we all know that’s easier said than done. Just like exercise gives you pep and motivation, not exercising can rob you of the energy you need to get started with exercise.
Bonnie Hayden Cheng and Yolanda Na Li, the co-authors of the Hong Kong study, also stress the importance of starting small.
“We often talk ourselves out of physical activity because we’re just too tired, hungry, stressed, or busy (ourselves included!). Our findings echo the perspective of the WHO, in that ‘some physical activity is better than doing none,'” they write in HBR. “We found that even short periods of physical activity, even 20 minutes each day, were sufficient to generate resources that contributed to employees’ next-day task performance and health.”
Don’t get hung up on any particular target or talk yourself out of starting because you can’t do as much as you would like. Just do something. Even the smallest amount of today is likely to make you a little better at your job tomorrow.