There’s a rising commonality among office workers: fatigue, weakness, and lack of motivation. Camaraderie is important with coworkers, but maybe it’s time to take action when it comes to health and wellbeing. This is where regular exercise comes in.

Exercise improves productivity and reduces weakness, pain, and fatigue while giving a boost of motivation. You may have heard this before but wondered why or how. Let’s dig into the details of how exercise can improve wellbeing in the office with these 3 proven factors.

There are a few direct benefits and links between exercise and stress reduction in addition to the overall increase in health and wellbeing. It sends a rush of endorphins—the hormones that make you feel good about yourself, your life, and the world around you. They put a little pep in your step, which helps to improve productivity as well as self-esteem.

Stress and exercise have something in common: they both release adrenaline, otherwise known as the fight-or-flight response. The problem with adrenaline stems from why it’s being released and how it’s being utilized. When it’s released due to office stress, your body learns and anticipates releasing it when you reach the office, or when replying to emails, or going to meetings, etc. That’s not good.

Exercise, on the other hand, releases adrenaline based on a physical need. It teaches your body that stress shouldn’t be mentally induced. So, the next time you’re at the office you can read those emails and go to meetings and do your business with a clear head and a calm body. By reducing stress and reallocating adrenaline’s purpose, exercise improves wellbeing.

Without going into too much depth, anatomically, exercising increases your heart rate and blood flow (as well as blood production). This increases blood flow to the brain, including the parts of your brain dealing with memory. While exercise can increase your overall wellbeing, the minute details like teaching your body when to release adrenaline and improvements to memory provide this concept’s backbone.

A recent study shows improved memory test scores after exercise, even with people who exercised very little (or not at all). After exercising, new brain cells have been seen to form in memory-related areas of the brain, confirming one of the many links that support exercise improves wellbeing. 

Being less forgetful leads to higher levels of motivation and confidence when it comes to productivity in and out of the office. In essence: boost memory, improve wellbeing, and stay active.

As we now know, exercise boosts your wellbeing by releasing adrenaline in response to physical activity and increases circulation (blood flow). In combination, those two have an even greater effect: a boost to the immune system. This is potentially the greatest benefit for exercise to improve wellbeing.

As circulation increases and adrenaline is released, immune cells are mobilized in the blood stream. This reaches throughout the entire body, coming into contact with pathogens and destroying them. They get released in sweat, cleansing the body of harmful bacteria and viruses, improving wellbeing for the long haul.

We can’t claim that exercise will definitely protect you from the current pandemic, but it will certainly increase your odds of reducing infection and improving recovery. When we are overly stressed, our immune response is greatly reduced and our ability to fight off infections like SARS-COV-2 reduces to near nonexistent.

As we’ve learned, exercise improves wellbeing by adjusting the response to stress, focusing the release of adrenaline to physical events, not mental. Being isolated and inactive during quarantine creates mental stress, lowering the immune system. Getting a bit of exercise on a regular basis, even if it’s a brisk walk, sends out immune cells that keep you healthy.

 Since I’ve started taking my workouts seriously and dedicating my life to fitness, I haven’t been sick. The last time I had a cold was seven years ago, and I completely attribute the improvements to my wellbeing to exercise.

Exercise is known to have many benefits. Right now, the world is focused on using exercise to improve wellbeing. With its incredible influence on the immune system, boost to memory, and reduction in stress, it’s clear that exercise and fitness should be incorporated into your daily routine.

The benefits of exercise on wellbeing are seen everywhere: home, office, relationships, and personal health. You’ll see improved workplace productivity, better moods, more motivation, and best of all you’ll feel healthier every day.