We often see companies trying to get employees to exercise in order to reduce absenteeism. Is that really effective? And how does it actually work?
General benefits
It is well known that exercise benefits your health and reduces risk and duration of chronic diseases, such as hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. But movement can also improve the quality and duration of sleep and reduce anxiety and negative moods like depression. People who exercise more feel more active in the morning.
Influence on stress
Exercise helps the body to deal with stress in various ways. We see that exercise not only reduces the amount of stress, but also the harmful effects of stress, such as less involvement and feelings of depression. It helps the body to recover better from stress and it gives the body more means to cope better in the future. Of course, it also offers distraction and thus prevents you from worrying.
On the job
Making your employees exercise is not always easy. Many know that it’s good for them, but not everyone does it yet. However, not much exercise is needed to experience all the benefits of it. It is important that the type of exercise is something that the employee enjoys doing: maintaining an exercise routine that they don’t enjoy can cause loss of motivation and more stress. The exercise should be of decent intensity and cause the heart rate and breathing to rise slightly.