Fitness: Exercising and being more physically fit, can help you work more efficiently and have more energy at work, at play, and with your family. 

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Fitness and Health

Fitness: Exercise Helps You Work Efficiently

By JB Johnson

Fitness: Exercising improves your mental productivity and is very important for people who work at computers or other sedentary jobs.

The role of fitness in health: 

How would you like to work more efficiently, have more energy at work, improve your mental productivity at work and elsewhere?

People often think of exercise as something to further their health and appearance.

Did you ever think of exercise as something that can help you work more efficiently? Can exercise really help on the average desk jobs?

Yes. Exercise will definitely help you at work--in several different ways. Much of the work we do in the 90s is more tiring mentally than physically. We're "stressed out."

Too often we turn to artificial means like coffee, cigarettes, and alcohol to keep going. There are better ways, the most important of which is exercise.

Some people still think exercise is tiring, maybe even excessively tiring. To the contrary, a reasonable amount of exercise, done consistently, actually adds to your energy levels--especially if you have a sedentary job.

Although it is difficult to prove in a scientific test, consistent exercise seems to help people feel more energetic. Researchers think because walking improves circulation and increases oxygen delivery, while reducing anxiety and depression (known energy sappers), it makes us feel more lively.

Ask anyone who has exercised for twelve or more weeks if he/she works better. The answer, sometimes after a little thought, is almost always "yes."

You may even find you sleep better at night when you move your body consistently during the day. Better sleep will contribute even more energy at work.

It's safe to say that 15 or 20 minutes of exercise each day, whether it is walking or calisthenics, will increase your mental productivity.

Here is an experiment you can try that should prove the point. The next time you are working and feel drowsy, don't reach for a cigarette, the coffeepot, or a place to lie down. Instead, take a 15 or 20 minute walk or try some vigorous calisthenics. Get your heart beat going. Then take a couple of minutes to relax before going back to work. The difference in how you should feel is amazing.

Forgetting for the moment the long term cardiovascular benefits of aerobic exercise, any exercise helps make you alert and better able to deal with potentially stressful situations. Even thirty seconds of simple stretching itself can help you get back to your task with greater vigor.

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Your body and mind communicate with each other and continually affect each other. Any system that exalts one over the other is erroneous. Your body, mind, and even your soul will work together more efficiently with exercise.

Keep that in mind the next time you are "mentally tired" or "stressed out." Take a short walk instead of a short nap! Your increased energy will surprise you!

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