News :
Work out, then eat at your desk
THE MIAMI HERALD, July 12 2005 -- A study shows
that employees are more productive when they exercise during their lunch
break.
BY JOHN BRILEY
Washington Post Service
We hear it all the time: ``I don't have time to exercise
because I'm too busy at work.''
But what if we told you that exercise during the workday
actually improves productivity and efficiency, along with mood and energy
levels? In other words, what if we said that taking the time to exercise
makes up for any productivity lost while you're away from your desk?
You'd say it was a crock.
But we have research to back it up: A British study conducted
at the University of Bristol showed that workers were consistently and
significantly more productive and better able to manage time demands
-- and got along better with colleagues -- on days when they exercised
during their lunch breaks than on days when they didn't.
The six-week study, of 130 women and 80 men aged 23 to
57, had participants work out (mainly aerobics, but some yoga and stretching)
on some days and refrain from working out on others. All participants
worked for employers that offered on-site exercise programs.
Participants exercised for 31 to 60 minutes during each
session. They were instructed to exercise at least one day per week,
but many ''reported that they exercised two or more times per week at
work,'' said lead investigator Jim McKenna, a professor of physical
activity and health at Leeds Metropolitan University. ''Two in three
people reported improvements'' in at least one measure of work performance,
he added.
A few caveats: The workers in the study, most of whom had
sedentary jobs, were all involved in voluntary workplace exercise programs
before the study started and reported feeling confident in their job
performance. But prior research has shown mood and energy boosts in
sedentary people who begin similar exercise programs. Further, the assessments
of productivity are based on self-reports, a notoriously unreliable
method.
Still, McKenna called the results ''striking,'' noting
that he expected mood improvement from exercise but not the clear productivity
gains, which averaged 15 percent.
So let's do the math. One hour is 12.5 percent of an eight-hour
work day. If you're 15 percent more productive during the rest of your
work time, the exercise more than makes up for itself, with a few minutes
to spare!
(Note that this assumes you're reducing your time working
at your desk by an hour a day. If you keep your work hours steady and
exercise during your lunch break, your boss is getting 15 percent more
out of you than before! Are union leaders aware of this scandal?)
Mark Occhipinti, president of American Fitness Professionals
Associates, a fitness education company in Ship Bottom, N.J., noted
that when Johnson & Johnson, Xerox and other U.S. firms put fitness
facilities on their corporate campuses in the 1980s, ``rates of sick
days, employee down time and suicide dropped -- basically, exercise
improved every bad thing you could think of.''
In fact, J&J reported that its employees took 13 percent
fewer sick days in their first year after joining an organized exercise
program.
(source : www.miami.com)
