“Get active!” “Make sure you move!” “Take the stairs!” “Get off the couch!” People have been making statements like these forever, but how important is it to get active and get your body moving throughout the day? Does it really have that significant of improvements to a person’s health and well-being? The truth is that being active throughout the day, in fact, has a plethora of benefits to improve the mental and physical function of a person. With that, there are still aspects of why it is important to be active that many people are still unaware of. With the incorporation of physical activity, one is able to gain more out of their daily life in the workplace or school.

Speculations arise when people hear “research has shown” or “science has proven” because people often wonder if the claims made actually translate into reality. Recently I have been able to put this connection to the test. Just a few years ago, I set out on a journey to help better my life. Starting with making changes in my daily life to live a healthy lifestyle, quickly catapulted my journey through more than just losing thirty pounds. After trying to live an active life, I noticed different aspects of my life improving that I never thought would be improved just from being more active and trying to be healthy. I woke up each morning more energized than ever, and did not feel like the day was dragging on. My grades started to rise, due to my attention span being greater, and feeling as though my brain was more sharp and reactive in class. 

One may ask how the link between an increase in cognitive function with the incorporation of physical activity was found, and the answer, is simply, science. Researchers and scientists worldwide have been studying the correlation for decades. Through various brain scans, including Cat Scans, Pet Scans, and neuroimaging procedures, scientists have been able to study the way the brain reacts to physical activity, as well as being able to identify the exact lobes of the brain that react the greatest (Hillman 58). Using previous knowledge of what lobe of the brain does what, scientist have been able to determine which part of the brain most definitely is impacted by raising your heart rate during exercise. The hippocampus is vital to a person’s ability to learn, and a study done at the university of British Columbia explained, “regular aerobic exercise, the kind that gets your heart and your sweat glands pumping, appears to boost the size of the hippocampus, the brain area involved in verbal memory and learning” (Godman). Rather than just lifting weights or doing other resistance training, breaking a sweat and getting your heart pumping is when the brain reacts most drastically. 

“Exercise has also been show to elevate mood,” but why? (Freedman). Physical activity can trigger endorphins which is a chemical of the brain that improves one’s mood. Endorphins are neurotransmitters that are released when during activity.  They act as a natural energy boost “create feelings of happiness and euphoria” (Hardy). In addition to elevating one’s mood, the release of endorphins can dramatically increase one’s attention span and can impact the way some individual handles and deals with their stress, by naturally lowering stress levels.

Both adults in the workplace and children in the classroom will see a drastic improvement in their ability to carry on throughout their day if they incorporate some form of exercise in their day. Those who struggle to focus on a task and work through it start to finish without becoming distracted could benefit from getting active a great amount. Children often struggle to sit through their six to seven-hour long school day. Going from class to class, and subject to subject becomes difficult, and often teachers find that their students cannot focus. Now a days, children are only as smart as what their standardized test score shows, but when a child is told to sit for at least four hours to take a long and intense test, they struggle to not only sit for that long and focus, but they have difficulty comprehending and understanding the topics on the tests. Physical fitness in a child can enhance their performance, “recent studies have indicated that achievement in standardized tests of mathematics… and reading… was positively related to physical fitness scores, measured using the progressive aerobic cardiovascular endurance run… test” (Hillman 59). By giving a child a break to become active, whether physical education class or recess, a student will be able to sit and get through their work and studies easier than those students who do not get an adequate amount of activity time. Unfortunately, many schools have cut back on their non-education classes to try and better their student’s grades. However, a Finnish study states, “that the increased emphasis on sedentary academic activity among the youngest learners may be fruitless if it comes at the cost of physical activity. Boys whose days were more sedentary when they were in first grade… made fewer gains in reading in second and third grade. They also did worse at math for that year” (Luscombe). With an increase in the attention span of a student, there will be an increase in the grades earned by the student, most drastically, an improvement in mathematics and reading will be visible. The benefits aren’t only noticeable in children, but can also be seen in the working class in their field of occupation.

The society we live in today holds success at an extremely high standard, with that comes an incredible drive for adults in the workplace to make the most money and move up in the corporate ladder. Companies overwork their employees leaving minimal free time. Putting in long grueling hours day in and day out can take a toll on one’s body and health. Dr. Cullen Hardy explains, “Exercise also increases concentrations of norepinephrine, a chemical that can moderate the brain’s response to stress… working out can reduce stress and boost the body’s ability to deal with existing mental tension.” No matter what one’s profession might be, with work and responsibility comes stress, so doing something to relieve some stress is vital to a healthy life. Since the majority of companies over work their employees, and expect strenuous tasks to be performed in a short period of time, stress levels will naturally rise. Overworking can lead to health problems, explained by Sarah Greene Carmichael, that include, but are not limited to, “impaired sleep, depression, heavy drinking, diabetes, impaired memory, and heart disease.” By not allowing yourself time to rest and do something to benefit your health and well-being, a person is compromising their hours at work. During a study done at Leeds Metropolitan University researchers found, “On days when employees visited the gym, their experience at work changed. They reported managing their time more effectively, being more productive, and having smoother interactions with their colleagues” (Friedman). With the incorporation of physical activity in one’s day, a task that would normally take them hours and hours, may be able to be accomplished in a much smaller amount of time. Another reason the working class say they don’t fit in physical fitness into their average day is because they would rather stay at work then go home to a more stressful environment, however, one of the best ways to reduce stress levels is by exercising because of the release of endorphins (Carmichael). One is better able to not only handle, but also manage their stress levels. 

Physical activity is a general topic for many different workouts, exercises and ways to increase your heartrate and burn calories, but how much exercise is enough and what can the average busy person do to be active? We have all heard someone say, “take the stairs”, but the truth is, things as small as taking the stairs can have a great impact on one’s health. Going to the gym is an excellent way to ensure an amazing workout, but many people are hesitant. 

Scientist have followed specific individuals and realized that the brain eventually becomes familiar with specific exercises and as a result the person preforming the workout will become more confident and motivated to continue on. When a person is confident is what they are doing, and gain confidence in their looks and their abilities in the gym, they gain motivation to keep going and working towards bettering themselves. People may be intimidated by the gym due to lack of knowledge on what to do when they get there, but by going to the gym as little as three days a week, a person cognitive function will be as drastically improved as the body they are working, and after becoming used to the gym routine, one will be more comfortable. Overtime working out becomes more nature, “here individuals high in self-esteem, or more specifically in physical self-worth and related physical self-perceptions, are more likely to approach physical activity contexts since this is an area where competence and self-worth can be maintained or enhanced” (Biddle and Mutrie 182). With every workout, a person will be more comfortable performing that exercise, and as time goes on and self-esteem rises in an individual, confidence will be recognizable. Confidence is important when it comes to working out, and is incredibly important in the classroom or the workplace. 

For a person working a desk job where they may go hours without standing and not even realize, an easy, yet effective way to get active is to set a timer for every hour to get up and walk around. Walking around an office building for only ten minutes, maybe including a flight of stairs, this is a simple yet extremely beneficial way to stay active during long hours behind a desk. Sitting at a desk means a person will be stagnant for hours on end. However, there has been a major increase in the number of corporations that offer Standing Desks. It is essentially, a taller desk that one has to stand at. Often, they have the ability to rise to a standing height as well as lower to a normal desktop height. Working at a standing desk has numerous benefits including, reduces the risk of Type 2 Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease, and Cancers, and it also can Lower Long-Term Mortality Risk (Stromberg). By standing for longer hours than you sit, a person’s heart has to work harder to pump blood throughout your body, resulting in better heart health and more calories burned, compared to those who sit at a desk all of the average workday. 

The slightest changes in one’s daily life can have a major impact on the health of an individual. Working in physical activity into the average person’s day will result in greater results than just a physical transformation. The physical transformation can be beneficial, but the benefits that will occur with the cognitive function of the brain are incredible. Both children in their school day, and adults in their work day will see improvement to their ability to get through their day, due to the increase in energy levels. Also, tasks that may have taken them hours to complete, will be completed in a lesser amount of time. Claims have been made for decades about the importance of physical activity, but now claims go further than reducing body fat as the only benefit, the brain has dramatic benefits due to exercise in the average children and adults.
