Exercise for Work Productivity

Welcome Guest Blogger Andrea Webb of Distinctive Assistants who provides invaluable support to dozens of businesses throughout Edinburgh and the Lothians, as well as further afield across the UK, her blog is called Living the Life Work Balance.

I’m a great advocate for using exercise to increase your work productivity. Exercise improves all aspects of your life, not just helping you lose weight, or keeping you healthy, it helps boost your alertness and awareness in your work too.

Being alert and productive helps you get your work done faster and more efficiently, thus increasing your chances of making a better job of a project, getting a promotion or even a bonus at work. That’s a pretty good incentive from my point of view.

After a blast at the gym, you’ll find you have more energy and with more energy you feel more awake. It also helps sharpen your mind & enhance your mood. Exercise releases endorphins and serotonin, which also helps improve memory. I find after exercise it my ability to sort out my priorities improves. It allows me to prioritize my tasks and filter out distractions by helping me to get hold of the task at hand.

Exercising also helps you to achieve a life/work balance. If you fit exercise into your weekly schedule then it becomes part of your routine, and it makes you happier too.

Who doesn’t want to be happy….?

5 ways to incorporate exercise into your daily routine:

Find a buddy – working out with someone else makes you accountable. And most of all it’s fun!

Get an exercise app on your phone – if you don’t have time to get outdoors, or go to the gym then do it at home, there are plenty of great exercise apps you can source.

Walk more – rather than sitting in of an evening watching TV, go out and walk along the beach watch the sunset, get fresh air. It will do wonders for you.

Set a timer at work – sitting for long periods of time at a desk can make you lethargic, get up, have a walk about, or even make time to fit in some desk based exercises into your working day.

Set yourself a target – book in for a race or an obstacle course. It gives you the incentive to make regular effort to train for a specific event. Even get your work colleagues involved and train together.