16th March 2022 |
2 min read
By LABS member Ben Binder, Founder of The Fitness Works
Exercise has been repeatedly demonstrated to show that it helps improve our productivity, but it’s still not widely used as a tool to help increase our focus.
A study conducted by the University of Bristol saw the productivity of 200 people monitored during periods of exercise and non-exercise. On the days when the participants exercised it was found that they had more energy during the day, which resulted in:
21% higher concentration; 22% finished work on time; 25% worked without taking unscheduled breaks and 41% felt more motivated to complete their work.
Given this insight here are my top five exercise tips to help boost your productivity during your day to help improve your work performance:
- Spend 10-15 minutes actively moving when you first wake up
The idea behind this is to get your body producing Endorphins and Dopamine, our brain chemicals. Endorphins can be created while doing exercise, such as walking, squats or running around after the kids, and mainly encourage a reduction in anxiety, which helps with focus. Dopamine promotes motivation and we can achieve its production within our bodies by activities, including listening to music.
- Habits
If you want to become more productive using exercise, start small, build it into a habit and finally form your exercise into a routine. Exercise such as completing ten press-ups every day will eventually compound, and without realising, you will become more active, encouraging increased productivity.
- Neat (Non-Exercise, Energy, Activity and Thermogenesis)
This method, in short, is designed to encourage active movement where and when possible. For example, take the stairs rather than the escalator or lift, or try parking further away from the shop to get some extra steps in.
- Aim to hit between 6,000-10,000 steps per day
Walking is one of the most underutilised and undervalued forms of exercise. Research has shown that walking can increase positivity, confidence and focus, which all help to increase productivity.
- Routine + Tracking
Once you have formed some solid exercise habits, it’s time to focus on creating a pattern that will be easy to follow and will encourage and increase your productivity. Tracking your exercise habits can be of enormous value to help motivate you to continue and increase your awareness of how you’re changing and the results you are achieving as you continue to progress.
The Fitness Works are back again in 2022 running Pilates and Yoga classes at LABS, which are available to LABS members who can use the LABS app to sign up
