Stop Refusing To Get Enough Exercise

If I knew I was going to live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself.” - baseball legend Mickey Mantle Regardless of your job title, your goal should be to increase your productivity in any way you can. Working faster means getting more things done and enjoying more free time. That can open the door to an array of rewarding benefits, such as spending more time with your family, having the opportunity to start a side business or impressing your boss and receiving a raise. For that reason, it’s worth doing everything you can to improve the efficiency of your workflow. That includes getting regular exercise. Research shows that staying fit has a positive effect on cognitive ability and productivity. In one study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2011, researchers found that moderate exercise improved spatial memory in older adults. In another study, researchers provided treadmill desks to the employees of a Minnesota loan company. The desks forced the employees to walk and work at the same time. The researchers found that the staff’s performance improved significantly compared to their performance while sitting at their desks. The findings were published in the journal PLOS One in 2013. There are many benefits associated with exercise. They include less stress, improved memory, better focus, better mood, increased alertness, heightened brain function and more creativity. Studies also show that people who regularly exercise are more likely than their sedentary counterparts to enjoy a more positive work-life balance. Most people get too little exercise. They sit in front of their computers for most of the workday and sit on their couches for most of the evening. Consequently, they never give themselves the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of physical exertion. Reasons vary. We tell ourselves that we lack the time to go to the gym or are unable to afford a gym membership. Or we find exercise boring. Or we don’t know how to do it properly. Or we have to watch our kids and are thus unable to get to the gym. Or we simply hate exercise. Most reasons are little more than excuses. They rationalize inaction. And they weaken more than just your body; they undermine your productivity.

 How This Bad Habit Hurts Your Productivity 

A sedentary lifestyle impairs your ability to get things done in eight distinct ways. First, it makes you more vulnerable to stress. Regardless of whether you work in a corporate office or at home, stress is an ever-present part of your day. It’s often subtle and difficult to recognize, but it’s always there. Exercise releases endorphins that lessen the toll stress takes on you. Without it, stress can build to the point that it severely harms your performance at work. Second, neglecting to exercise sets the stage for lagging energy levels. When you work out, your body is better able to metabolize glucose, delivering it to your brain and the rest of your body. The glucose gives you energy. When you sit in front of your computer all day, you don’t enjoy that effect. Your body can still metabolize glucose and send it to your brain, but it does so less efficiently. Third, a sedentary lifestyle diminishes your focus and level of alertness. Blood flow to the brain is less robust than would be the case if you followed a regular exercise regimen. Fourth, lack of exercise can cause weight gain and lead to obesity. That, in turn, can open the door to serious health issues, such as metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Such problems make it more difficult to work productively since you often feel in poor health. A fifth side effect of sedentary behavior is the erosion of memory and cognitive skills. Research shows that the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that influences memory and information processing, is smaller in individuals who neglect to exercise. Sixth, you’re more likely to sleep poorly. In 2013, The National Sleep Foundation polled 1,000 adults aged between 23 and 60. The organization found that people who regularly exercised were far more likely to report getting a good night’s sleep than those who didn’t exercise. Vigorous exercisers enjoyed the best sleep. They also reported the fewest sleep problems. Seventh, you’re more likely to be irritable. Studies have shown a causal connection between a sedentary lifestyle and anxiety and depression. Both latter attributes can make you short-tempered with your coworkers, friends and family members. Lastly, a lack of exercise is likely to negatively affect your work-life balance. Researchers have found that people who exercise on a regular basis are better able to manage their time and handle the demands associated with their responsibilities. Let’s assume you currently get little to no exercise. Following are seven suggestions for improving that area of your life and giving your productivity a healthy boost in the process. (If you regularly work out, feel free to skip the following section.)

Action Steps 

1. Clean up your diet. We talked about diet in Day 9. It’s a crucial first step to getting into shape. An exercise regimen married to a terrible diet will have a limited impact on your productivity. Moreover, eating unhealthy foods will lessen your motivation to get into shape.

2. Get sufficient sleep. It’s important that you get seven to eight hours of sleep each night. Only then will you be able to sustain a regular exercise regimen. If you only sleep five hours a night, you will eventually feel run down. Naturally, your motivation to work out will wane.

3. Schedule time to exercise. Treat it like an appointment with yourself. Many people plan to work out, but fail to do so because “life” gets in their way. That includes their work responsibilities, time spent with family and going out with friends. These things are important, of course. But there’s a way to manage all of them. It’s a matter of prioritization. Make an appointment to exercise. Then, stick to it, just as you would with any work-related meeting.

4. Invest in a standing desk. It will encourage you to move your body throughout the workday. Research shows that sitting for several hours introduces a number of health risks. It can lead to muscle degeneration, neck and back pain and can even shorten your life. A standing desk gets you on your feet. It short circuits the physiological processes that make sitting unhealthy. A quick tip: don’t stand for several hours at a time. Doing so will do more harm than good. Instead, alternate. Stand for 60 minutes, then sit for 60 minutes, and then stand up again. It helps to use an adjustable-height standing desk that can be raised and lowered with the touch of a button. I use a Jarvis standing desk and love it.

5. Track where you’re spending your time during the day. That will reveal short time blocks you can use to exercise. You don’t need two hours to work out. The goal is to simply move your body, not sculpt it with chiseled muscles. You can do that in 5-minute increments. For example, if you’re at the office, take a 5-minute break and perform a few stretches, squats and pushups. If you’re at home, go for a short walk around the block. The purpose of tracking your time is to find pockets of “dead” time - five minutes here and ten minutes there - you can use to work your muscles and get your blood flowing.

6. Start slowly. If you’ve spent the last few years living a sedentary lifestyle, don’t go for a 40-minute jog at the outset. Instead, start with a brisk 10-minute walk. Then, day by day, increase the duration of your walks to 15 minutes, then 20 minutes and then 25 minutes. After a week, advance to jogging, but only for short intervals. Jog for five minutes a day during the first week. Jog for ten minutes a day during the second week. Follow that pattern until you build the needed stamina and respiratory strength to safely jog for 40 minutes without rest. Starting slowly gives you motivation to continue developing the habit of exercise. It also helps you to avoid hurting yourself. 7. Track your daily exercises on a spreadsheet. That way, you can monitor your progress. Over time, you’ll see clear evidence of increasing strength and endurance, which will motivate you to continue.