Physical Exercise in the Workplace - Spark Hire

Physical Exercise in the Workplace - Spark HireIts no secret that exercising regularly is one of the most commonly broken new years resolutions. Why shouldnt it be? Its hard work, its sweaty, its off the couch, and it means notlage eating as many Doritos as you want. But that doesnt mean it isnt good for you exercise has been proven to aid in both physical and mental stress reduction, so it stands to reason that implementing it into a high stress environment would help lower the stress. In a work environment where stress reduction is a necessity for efficient and healthy workers, a little bit of exercise can be indispensable.When youre on an international flight, the in-flight safety movie suggests standing up and walking a few laps every couple of hours. The point of this is to get the blood moving and to loosen up the joints which, as the safety video tells us, can get locked up within a matter of hours. Now imagine what years of sitting in a chair for forty hours a week will do to your legs. My brother is currently beginning training for a marathon and even though he is a sprightly 25 year-old, he is having trouble getting started because he has old man legs, as he says. Thats only from two years of working.Being immobile leads to physical pain and physical pain leads to mental stress thats why it is important to exercise every day in the work place. Stress reduction means reducing physical stress too.. While walking around to stretch your legs every now and again is a start, there should be more complete options made available to employees. Understandably, not every company can afford their own work-out instructors and rock walls, but there should at least be a separate designated space where employees can do basic stretching without feeling silly.Providing this for employees doesnt need to be an extravagant cost. If you cant pay the construction costs to build a new exercise room then make a conference room a designated stretching/aerobic exercise room for a few hours every day. This wont cost you anything and it will give employees an option to increase stress reduction and get a good workout. The overall increase in work quality and employee satisfaction will be instantly noticeable. Who knows, maybe youll find yourself wanting to get some stress reduction in from time to time.What are your thoughts on physical exercise in the workplace? Do you think your office could benefit from offering more exercise options? Tell us in the commentsIMAGECourtesy of Flickr by GoToVan