11 ms·

Reducing workplace burnout: the benefits of exercise

258 points by mmariani 11y ago

amelius 11y ago
One tip: if you feel you are close to a burnout, sleep. Sleep a lot.
- Apocryphon 11y ago
  In an ideal working world, we would not only receive an hour for lunch, but also an hour for exercise and half an hour for a nap.
david_shaw 11y ago
The most interesting part of the study (to me) was this: > Cardiovascular exercise was found to increase well-being and decrease psychological distress, perceived stress, and emotional exhaustion. Resistance training was noticeably effective in increasing well-being and personal accomplishment and to reduce perceived stress. and > Different types of exercise may assist employees in different ways. I've always been told that exercise improves feelings of well-being, reduces stress, etc. I've never heard about the different effects that different types of exercise can have on the psyche -- although it makes sense, for example, that improving at resistance training would lead to a sense of accomplishment. If taken to its logical conclusion, this study implies that we should be working out in different ways based on the psychological ailments we may be experiencing. That's fascinating to me.
- NhanH 11y ago
  > [...] although it makes sense, for example, that improving at resistance training would lead to a sense of accomplishment. It's not just a sense of accomplishment, it's an actual accomplishment: to be a stronger human being than you once was. And unlike most other accomplishment in life, you're not under anyone's whim or circumstantial luck. There were a big thread on HN just a few months ago on that: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9782083 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9782083
  - kazinator 11y ago
    "sense of accomplishment" is a buzz phrase that covers actual accomplishment. As in, "both my career and volunteer work give me a sense of accomplishment". People rarely say they have sense of accomplishment from something where there is no actual, objective accomplishment (without going out of their way to clarify that such is the case).
  - unicornporn 11y ago
    I don't get why cardiovascular training, like running, wouldn't lead to the same feeling of accomplishment. You might not get stronger (in the same obvious way), but you will most certainly be faster.
    - Swizec 11y ago
      Because most people don't use tracking apps and because improvements are less obvious. It's very easy to measure progress when you're lifting. You're putting more on, the numbers are going up. Lifting more weight leads to being able to lift more weight. The path from "lift less" to "lift more" is obvious, easy to measure, and feels a bit like building an MMORPG character. For running the gains are a lot slower and less correlated to your training. Running 2 minutes faster today than three months ago also doesn't feel as significant as squatting 50kg more than three months ago does.
      - llimllib 11y ago
        1. I prefer weight lifting to running, but 2. I think you're pretty off base. The gains for running are just as correlated to your training, and (IMO, obviously, it's unquantifiable) a 10% speed improvement feels exactly as good as a 10% weight increase. (For reference, I've been a medium good runner and lifter: at my various peaks I've run consistent sub-18 5ks and squatted 5x315lbs)
      - arcanus 11y ago
        > For running the gains are a lot slower and less correlated to your training. This is absolutely untrue, and purely personal anecdotes. Otherwise agree with your first two paragraphs.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- amelius 11y ago
  I'm wondering how much the decrease of psychological distress originates from the same effects as meditation gives. While doing cardio exercise, often the mind is forced to be focused on the body and the exercise.
  - magic_beans 11y ago
    this is a very interesting idea! I do wonder how similar the effects of the two are...
- cowardlydragon 11y ago
  Different exercise results in different hormones and neurotransmitters. Lifting should stimulate testosterone production to some degree. Endurance exercise should trigger endorphin releases.
  - _-__--- 11y ago
    habituation and potentiation related to the increased average bloodstream presence of either NT or hormone type may lead to observable behavioral changes, etc. Interesting!
- mamon 11y ago
  Simple explanation would be that resistance exercise makes it much easier to measure progress (by lbs you are able to lift) than cardiovascular excercise. That's the reason why it gives you more sense of accomplishment. I know that the progress may be mesured in aerobic excercise as well (by measuring time it takes to cover specific distance), but time is an abstract concept, and the bar with weights can be seen with the naked eye.
- atmosx 11y ago
  Endorphins[1] are produced upon exercise. Also for those who do sports like racing, skiing, etc. There's the 'adrenaline rush' which leaves you an amazing feeling (sometimes literally goosebumps) when you successfully do something dangerous. I get this feeling when racing on the track and snowboarding. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorphins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorphins
- jjtheblunt 11y ago
  Crossfit is built around that, several years ago now.
tomjen3 11y ago
At this point it would be news if exercise isn't beneficial for $CONCERN. So the question is how, do we make it so that people want to get of their ass and exercise? Considering the general state of health in most first world countries (especially given the recent news that half of US adults are either diabetic or pre-diabetic), this may very well be the question in public health. And yet we almost never see any research about this.
- fleshshelf 11y ago
  Or, how about instead of having to exercise like crazy to cope with work, we make work itself more sustainable?
  - dllthomas 11y ago
    Or, since people aren't getting enough exercise to begin with, how about we do both - with priority on upping the exercise to a reasonable level.
- stdbrouw 11y ago
  Actually, most of these studies show that moderate exercise is beneficial for $CONCERN. Strenuous exercise can lead to a heart attack, knee damage et cetera, and sports are often inherently dangerous – from broken bones to tennis elbows. The prevailing scientific view on exercise is actually quite nuanced.
  - 0xcde4c3db 11y ago
    Indeed. Given the actual state of the science, it's arguably irresponsible to make unqualified claims about "exercise". Doubly so if the claim is being made with regard to an individual or small group rather than a large population. The way people talk about the benefits of "exercise" is about on the level of saying that "food" prevents scurvy, goiter, and rickets.
- throwaway1967 11y ago
  > So the question is how, do we make it so that people want to get of their ass and exercise? Sell it in a pill, or sell a service so that someone else can do the hard work for me, or otherwise sell a gadget I strap around me and it works "me" out. /s In other words, pigritia imperat - laziness rules. More seriously, people will exercise if you can distract them from the fact that they are exercising. Once those immersive first-person shooters become cheaper you might see a change.
samstokes 11y ago
My own anecdata definitely supports this study's conclusion. I wish I'd been in the habit of regular exercise when I first got into the startup scene. That said, I fear the outcome of their recommendation: > Organisations wishing to proactively reduce burnout can do so by encouraging their employees to access regular exercise programs. If burnout is prevalent enough among an organisation's workforce for "proactively reducing" it to be strategically worthwhile, that suggests it would be much more important to introspect on why they are burning out so many of their employees in the first place. e.g. does your culture explicitly value "hard work", which can turn into encouraging unpaid overtime? When you celebrate hitting deadlines, do you look back on whether it was thanks to good planning or "crunch mode"? Do people understand the reasons for decisions that affect them? Not that these are easy problems to fix, but I'd hate to see companies start thinking burnout is something that can be "fixed" with a gym discount and workout incentive schemes.
- lighthawk 11y ago
  > I'd hate to see companies start thinking burnout is something that can be "fixed" with a gym discount and workout incentive schemes. I agree, but dedicated time for exercise in the existing workday could go a long way. And it doesn't have to just be exercise: I used to work for a company where the one of the directors of development (60-80 people under him) would go for walks and people could come along to discuss work topics. Another manager I worked for at a different employer would have walking meetings where the whole team would get up and discuss current problems from tasks they were working on, etc.
  - Someone1234 11y ago
    You do have to be careful however, otherwise you could get accused of bias against the less-able (e.g. disabled, pregnant, older). So you can provide time to exercise, but if exercise-related activities become a core part of the work day, people who cannot take part might complain that they're being sidelined (see IT Crowd and Jen with the dance-meetings). I know we have someone with cerebral palsy who definitely would struggle to take part.
nutmeg 11y ago
In a documentary about Studio Ghibli, they show every couple hours where everyone gets up from their desk and does calisthenics, even Miyazaki. I don't know if this is common in Japan or just a Studio Ghibli practice, but I was impressed with the idea of it.
- greggman 11y ago
  It's not uncommon to have 1 stretch break a day that's lead by someone. As in they walk in the room and say "Okay everyone it's stretch time. Please stand up and follow my moves". I haven't personally seen it more than once a day and I've worked at Japanese companies that didn't have it though.
- g0v 11y ago
  That is common in Japan among jobs from office workers to mechanics. I was stationed there for some years and when we were in port the Japanese workers on the base would all line up outside their offices, sometimes turn on a little workout music, and one or two would lead in stretching and movement exercises. I'm sure they saw all the sailors looking and some laughing, but I think the joke was on us, ha!
beachstartup 11y ago
the best thing i've done in the past year is fork over a bunch of money to a personal barbell coach to get my ass up and into the gym on a regular schedule. he also supervises my general cardio routine. i'm simply unable to do it myself without the external personal and financial accountability. but once the money changes hands, i look at it like a business transaction / work and it taps into a different set of motivations in my head. if you've had false starts and other trouble getting on a resistance and cardio program, try hiring a good trainer. if you're intrinsically motivated to be fit, count your blessings.
- totalrobe 11y ago
  probably why crossfit is so successful while also being much cheaper in most cases than a personal trainer
the-dude 11y ago
So let me get this straight: at a place where they already burn you out, they will eventually force you to work even more by 'working out' ? Uhhh, no thanks.
- panzagl 11y ago
  Don't know why you're getting downvotes, this is some "Brave New World" level BS- it's not enough to own your ass for 10-12 hours a day, now you have to spend another hour on a treadmill so they can get more out of you. Hope you're also spending a couple of hours on 'passion' projects to keep your skills sharp, and getting a full 8 hours of sleep as well. Unless you're getting paid like a pro athlete screw that.
  - csmattryder 11y ago
    It's ultimately your call as an employee if you want to work longer/harder/faster, but I don't think there's anything wrong with exercising and 'passion projects'. I exercise twice weekly, and spend around 2 hours on my own projects - purely so I am stonger, both physically and mentally - which'll lead me to higher paying work in the future (not to mention I love my pet projects!). My employers know that at 5:30, I down tools and under no circumstances, will respond to any calls/emails until 9am the following morning. Do what you do for you, not for anyone else.
6stringmerc 11y ago
After a few years in the health industry, whenever I see a statement like this one: Organisations wishing to proactively reduce burnout can do so by encouraging their employees to access regular exercise programs. My brain translates the suggestion into real-world application, which in the US seems to go like this: Organisations wishing to proactively increase wellness metrics and reduce their expenditures can do so by instituting highly invasive biometric screening programs and jacking up premiums, while offering no actual time or fiscal incentive to join a gym or exercise independently. Quick apology if that sounds terribly cynical, but it seems like the go-to path by businesses. I say this as a person who feels grateful to have a job where I can go home and work out for 20 minutes 3 times during the work week. Also, I know that eating "better" takes time and effort both in the sourcing and production of materials, which may or may not be less expensive to the individual in the short/long term.
- shostack 11y ago
  Unfortunately, I have to agree with this. I've seen it happen. What could very well be a win/win/win situation for companies (less turnover, lower rates), employees (better health, less burnout), and insurers (lower health risk and fewer payouts) ends up being something that removes a lot of (all of?) the benefit for employees, and just benefits the company and insurers.
  - marcosdumay 11y ago
    It's normally changed into a lose/lose/lose situation, but companies and insurers won't realize their lose at the short term, so they pretend they won. They change an action with the goal of reducing stress into something that creates more stress. And even spend some money doing it (it's just cheaper than the real thing, but still costs). Nobody gains.
- numbsafari 11y ago
  Your comment reminds me of the "Stress" episode of the IT Crowd... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBmN_tisl9M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBmN_tisl9M
- 11y ago
jug5 11y ago
Only among the sedentary armchair warriors of HN would anyone be so detached from phyical exercise that this would be considered a new or novel finding.
gorena 11y ago
How are you supposed to find time to exercise when you're working 10-12 hours a day? I can barely find time to clean my apartment. And if you're not (can I have your job?), you're probably less likely to be burning out.
- kelvin0 11y ago
  It's called Work-Life balance, discipline and knowing what your priorities are.
  - gorena 11y ago
    Unfortunately, my priority is surviving until a year at this place is up, so that I can quit without potentially being labeled a job hopper. I don't want to damage my career permanently.
    - tormeh 11y ago
      Try push-ups and hang-ups at home once per day. You have a floor, so push-ups are always available. Anything strong enough above-head will do for hang-ups: A staircase, with overhead steps you can grab hold off or a horizontal beam. If your landlord is fine with it, you can install a hang-up bar in a doorway.
      - kaybe 11y ago
        Someone put those up in our office, including a personal highscore sheet to mark your progress.
  - g0v 11y ago
    This. At the end of the day it's up to you to find/make the time to balance your life out. I've been learning a lot lately about balance, it's more important than I used to think. FIND BALANCE!
- btbuildem 11y ago
  Don't work 10-12 hours a day ... that's how you burn out.
cowardlydragon 11y ago
.... no focus on recommended prescription drugs? Study is obviously flawed.
- cpncrunch 11y ago
  I'm not aware of any prescription drugs for burnout (except for treating certain symptoms of burnout, such as anxiety or depression).
nikolaj 11y ago
It is nice to have NIH give us a good justification for having a surfboard rack in the office :)
anti-shill 11y ago
anything possible to get more work out of us can only be a Good Thing
shostack 11y ago
I'm very fortunate to work for a company that values health and wellness to the point where they provide workout facilities for employees and trainers twice a week. I used to never go to a gym, and I'd be lucky if I could convince myself to do some bicep curls and situps/pushups at home in-between rounds of various games I play. I have weak discipline in that area. I've always had a high metabolism to the point where I was "scrawny", so I would never get fat from not working out, but I definitely felt the drain on my energy, and overall physical fitness and strength. Since starting at this company, while I've lost 15 pounds (not something skinny people typically aim for), I've gained a ton of muscle, and am physically in the best shape I've been in my entire life. The confidence that comes from that is one thing, but the increased energy and how it has helped me focus on work while reducing stress from juggling many balls are side benefits that were completely unexpected, and perhaps the greatest benefits. The fact that it was so noticeable to me was what really blew me away--it was literally night and day. TBH, I likely wouldn't do this though if we just had the gym and no trainers--I'm one of those folks who needs someone giving them instructions in the gym and yelling at them when they are slacking or doing it wrong. I'd wager that this has driven a significant productivity boost for myself (and likely others here) because of the overall increase in energy. I also end up focusing on tough work problems I'm trying to solve during my workouts because of the amazing increase in focus I have, and it is amazing to be able to focus with that level of clarity. It also probably helps cut down indirectly on insurance claims which is a nice plus. In this day and age of always being connected, and having 50 million things to juggle at once, it is easy to be overwhelmed. There's something about a solid workout that just forces all of these extraneous thoughts from your head and lets you focus on 1-2 things that I personally attribute to helping reduce the risk of burnout. The flip-side of course is ensuring proper work/life balance, and I'd say that is pretty healthy here as well (and was one of the deciding factors in me choosing to work here vs. elsewhere). Companies really need to embrace it and promote it as part of their culture, otherwise it becomes one of those things that they need to try to fit in along with everything else in an unsustainable way.
kazinator 11y ago
The sense of well-being from endurance exercise such as running is phony, however. You're not solving any problems when you go for a run. (And I don't mean technical problems whereby you figure out some software bug while you're out covering the miles, which is great!) Well, sure, you're temporarily solving the dependent problem of discomfort from the stress caused by problems, which is a problem itself. You have to use the sense of well-being as a motivator to actually confront problems when you come back from the roads or trails, rather than as a "drug" to escape from them.
- sliverstorm 11y ago
  It's not just the runner's high. I've noticed my mood is dramatically different on weeks I bike to work. The following week if I start driving I think to myself, wow I feel awful. Wow I'm unmotivated. Physical activity is not just escapism...
- faitswulff 11y ago
  This comment strikes me as far too cerebral. Exercise has demonstrably positive effects on not just mood (the sense of well-being, as you said), but cognitive function, physical performance, and longevity. If you go for a run in nature, you get a boost in creativity (http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0051474 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal....). Exercise is often social and can be used to network. Exercise isn't just a calorie-intensive vacation for your brain, it's an overall enhancement for life.
  - kazinator 11y ago
    Excercise also causes stress. If I go two days without running, I feel in a low, agitated mood while at the same time physically lethargic. All throughout the day I have urge to lie down and take a nap. It's exactly like withdrawal from a drug. It starts on the first day off intensifies on the second day. Even a short run helps; for instance a single hard 800 m repeat. After that I feel normal, like on running days. The problem goes away after a week or two if I quit completely; it's caused by the exercise. Basically all the strictly positive stuff you hear, though not wrong in and of itself, is a rather unbalanced view spread by people who don't actually exercise, or not a whole lot.
myth_buster 11y ago
Could this be the case of missing the forest for the trees? Perhaps the burnout is happening due to stagnant wages and inflation which forces people to work longer or take up additional unfulfilling jobs. Exercises perhaps may only be helping in workers handle additional stress but doesn't improve their being on the whole. Productivity vs Hourly Wage [0] GDP vs Median household income [1] [0] http://www.decisionsonevidence.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Great-Prosperity-vs-Great-Recession.jpg http://www.decisionsonevidence.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/0... [1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e2/US_GDP_per_capita_vs_median_household_income.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e2/US_GDP_per_ca...
- prostoalex 11y ago
  For [0] and their total compensation calculation, have they included capital gains? The compensation shift from high-tax-rate wages to favorable-tax-rate stock options among the top-tier folks introduced $1/year CEOs, and then you have entire industries like software where stock options are frequently more important part of the compensation than wages. Not only one gets a favorable tax treatment for long-term capital gains, they can also choose when to trigger those tax events, selling over 40 years instead of one swift transaction.
- tormeh 11y ago
  Probably an ingredient, but I would guess the physically passive office jobs are a bigger problem.
- jkyle 11y ago
  Regardless of the cause if their baseline stressors, the subjects showed a reduction in their stress levels and increased various well-being metrics. I think that's the very definition of improving their well being on the whole. That there may be other ways to produce similar results, e.g. higher wages or less overall work hours (work/life balance) is not a counter point to the effectiveness of this particular method of accomplishing the same. On a side, even animals with no external pressures to work show increased levels of stress from inactivity.[1] Most animals like ourselves are simply not made for sedentary life styles. So much of our mental and physical well being requires physical activity of some kind in order to produce the chemicals needed for life satiety. There's such a mountain of evidence supporting this that studies like the above aren't even very interesting anymore. After basic necessities are met, healthy diet; moderate, regular exercise; and a sense of value and impact for one's work. Those are the not really that secret sauce to a fulfilled life. We've known this for a long time now. 1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15692095 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15692095
languagehacker 11y ago
Rad, now let's repeat it a few dozen times with a larger sample size, or it's an anecdote
larkinrichards 11y ago
As a long distance runner I have no doubt there's value to exercise. It pays to be healthy. It's also hard to stick to an exercise plan year round. This is a small sample size study that only lasted 4 weeks. Anecdotally, longer duration exercise regimes can themselves result in burnout-- it's hard to make it a habit. Perhaps the takeaway here is that a short-term exercise regimes can serve to distract you from the work that is burning you out?
stephendicato 11y ago
Eat healthy food. Exercise. Get enough sleep. You will feel better; both physically and mentally. Positive habit leads to more positive habit. Pay attention to how you feel. You don't need scientific studies to prove these things are "good" for you.
nazgulnarsil 11y ago
If you're a person for whom efficiency is highly motivating: http://lesswrong.com/lw/juc/optimal_exercise/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/juc/optimal_exercise/
zitterbewegung 11y ago
I love working out. It is so much fun now I have so much more energy!
zitterbewegung 11y ago
I love working out. It is so much fun now I have so much more energy!
spacemanmatt 11y ago
Wow, not one mention of yoga. It worked for me.
- barry-cotter 11y ago
  Yoga's great, (1-4 times a week depending on schedule) but it's far from optimal as cardio, weight training or flexibility training. It beats being a couch potatoe by miles but it's best seen as moving meditation not a complete fitness regimen.
- randomsearch 11y ago
  Or swimming --- excellent for RSI, cardio, working out all your muscle groups, learning a useful skill, low impact, easy to keep going into old age, weather independent, no crossfit mentality. And you can easily pop into the sauna and steam room.
  - Hockenbrizzle 11y ago
    Totally agree. Nothing quite tones up everything like swimming does.
mangeletti 11y ago
I workout at the Golds here in Jupiter, FL every day after work. It started, like many times before, as a, "That's it! I'm getting into shape!", back in February. I wanted to put on some muscle weight (went from 180lbs in Feb to now 208lbs; my goal is somewhere around here). Then, like very few times before, it became an addiction. The exhilaration of high speed running (I'll set the treadmill to 12mph and see how long I can run at that speed - usually no more than 1/4 mile), the feeling of accomplishment after weights (I do weights every day, treadmill is just my warmup). My stress and anxiety (had serious anxiety since 2012 - drugs did nothing to help) have been reduced drastically. It's very strange because generalized anxiety disorder is more of an epinephrine issue, but when you have it it feels very much mental. It's not until you start finding relief from working out that you start to accept that it is truly a physiological issue. All the fears (worrying about loved ones, worrying about having some disease, worrying about job security, etc.) just fade away with each new workout. It just takes a couple months to get to this point.

258 points by mmariani 11y ago

amelius 11y ago

One tip: if you feel you are close to a burnout, sleep. Sleep a lot.

Apocryphon 11y ago
In an ideal working world, we would not only receive an hour for lunch, but also an hour for exercise and half an hour for a nap.

david_shaw 11y ago

The most interesting part of the study (to me) was this: > Cardiovascular exercise was found to increase well-being and decrease psychological distress, perceived stress, and emotional exhaustion. Resistance training was noticeably effective in increasing well-being and personal accomplishment and to reduce perceived stress. and > Different types of exercise may assist employees in different ways. I've always been told that exercise improves feelings of well-being, reduces stress, etc. I've never heard about the different effects that different types of exercise can have on the psyche -- although it makes sense, for example, that improving at resistance training would lead to a sense of accomplishment. If taken to its logical conclusion, this study implies that we should be working out in different ways based on the psychological ailments we may be experiencing. That's fascinating to me.

NhanH 11y ago
> [...] although it makes sense, for example, that improving at resistance training would lead to a sense of accomplishment. It's not just a sense of accomplishment, it's an actual accomplishment: to be a stronger human being than you once was. And unlike most other accomplishment in life, you're not under anyone's whim or circumstantial luck. There were a big thread on HN just a few months ago on that: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9782083 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9782083
- kazinator 11y ago
  "sense of accomplishment" is a buzz phrase that covers actual accomplishment. As in, "both my career and volunteer work give me a sense of accomplishment". People rarely say they have sense of accomplishment from something where there is no actual, objective accomplishment (without going out of their way to clarify that such is the case).
- unicornporn 11y ago
  I don't get why cardiovascular training, like running, wouldn't lead to the same feeling of accomplishment. You might not get stronger (in the same obvious way), but you will most certainly be faster.
  - Swizec 11y ago
    Because most people don't use tracking apps and because improvements are less obvious. It's very easy to measure progress when you're lifting. You're putting more on, the numbers are going up. Lifting more weight leads to being able to lift more weight. The path from "lift less" to "lift more" is obvious, easy to measure, and feels a bit like building an MMORPG character. For running the gains are a lot slower and less correlated to your training. Running 2 minutes faster today than three months ago also doesn't feel as significant as squatting 50kg more than three months ago does.
    - llimllib 11y ago
      1. I prefer weight lifting to running, but 2. I think you're pretty off base. The gains for running are just as correlated to your training, and (IMO, obviously, it's unquantifiable) a 10% speed improvement feels exactly as good as a 10% weight increase. (For reference, I've been a medium good runner and lifter: at my various peaks I've run consistent sub-18 5ks and squatted 5x315lbs)
    - arcanus 11y ago
      > For running the gains are a lot slower and less correlated to your training. This is absolutely untrue, and purely personal anecdotes. Otherwise agree with your first two paragraphs.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
amelius 11y ago
I'm wondering how much the decrease of psychological distress originates from the same effects as meditation gives. While doing cardio exercise, often the mind is forced to be focused on the body and the exercise.
- magic_beans 11y ago
  this is a very interesting idea! I do wonder how similar the effects of the two are...
cowardlydragon 11y ago
Different exercise results in different hormones and neurotransmitters. Lifting should stimulate testosterone production to some degree. Endurance exercise should trigger endorphin releases.
- _-__--- 11y ago
  habituation and potentiation related to the increased average bloodstream presence of either NT or hormone type may lead to observable behavioral changes, etc. Interesting!
mamon 11y ago
Simple explanation would be that resistance exercise makes it much easier to measure progress (by lbs you are able to lift) than cardiovascular excercise. That's the reason why it gives you more sense of accomplishment. I know that the progress may be mesured in aerobic excercise as well (by measuring time it takes to cover specific distance), but time is an abstract concept, and the bar with weights can be seen with the naked eye.
atmosx 11y ago
Endorphins[1] are produced upon exercise. Also for those who do sports like racing, skiing, etc. There's the 'adrenaline rush' which leaves you an amazing feeling (sometimes literally goosebumps) when you successfully do something dangerous. I get this feeling when racing on the track and snowboarding. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorphins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorphins
jjtheblunt 11y ago
Crossfit is built around that, several years ago now.

tomjen3 11y ago

At this point it would be news if exercise isn't beneficial for $CONCERN. So the question is how, do we make it so that people want to get of their ass and exercise? Considering the general state of health in most first world countries (especially given the recent news that half of US adults are either diabetic or pre-diabetic), this may very well be the question in public health. And yet we almost never see any research about this.

fleshshelf 11y ago
Or, how about instead of having to exercise like crazy to cope with work, we make work itself more sustainable?
- dllthomas 11y ago
  Or, since people aren't getting enough exercise to begin with, how about we do both - with priority on upping the exercise to a reasonable level.
stdbrouw 11y ago
Actually, most of these studies show that moderate exercise is beneficial for $CONCERN. Strenuous exercise can lead to a heart attack, knee damage et cetera, and sports are often inherently dangerous – from broken bones to tennis elbows. The prevailing scientific view on exercise is actually quite nuanced.
- 0xcde4c3db 11y ago
  Indeed. Given the actual state of the science, it's arguably irresponsible to make unqualified claims about "exercise". Doubly so if the claim is being made with regard to an individual or small group rather than a large population. The way people talk about the benefits of "exercise" is about on the level of saying that "food" prevents scurvy, goiter, and rickets.
throwaway1967 11y ago
> So the question is how, do we make it so that people want to get of their ass and exercise? Sell it in a pill, or sell a service so that someone else can do the hard work for me, or otherwise sell a gadget I strap around me and it works "me" out. /s In other words, pigritia imperat - laziness rules. More seriously, people will exercise if you can distract them from the fact that they are exercising. Once those immersive first-person shooters become cheaper you might see a change.

samstokes 11y ago

My own anecdata definitely supports this study's conclusion. I wish I'd been in the habit of regular exercise when I first got into the startup scene. That said, I fear the outcome of their recommendation: > Organisations wishing to proactively reduce burnout can do so by encouraging their employees to access regular exercise programs. If burnout is prevalent enough among an organisation's workforce for "proactively reducing" it to be strategically worthwhile, that suggests it would be much more important to introspect on why they are burning out so many of their employees in the first place. e.g. does your culture explicitly value "hard work", which can turn into encouraging unpaid overtime? When you celebrate hitting deadlines, do you look back on whether it was thanks to good planning or "crunch mode"? Do people understand the reasons for decisions that affect them? Not that these are easy problems to fix, but I'd hate to see companies start thinking burnout is something that can be "fixed" with a gym discount and workout incentive schemes.

lighthawk 11y ago
> I'd hate to see companies start thinking burnout is something that can be "fixed" with a gym discount and workout incentive schemes. I agree, but dedicated time for exercise in the existing workday could go a long way. And it doesn't have to just be exercise: I used to work for a company where the one of the directors of development (60-80 people under him) would go for walks and people could come along to discuss work topics. Another manager I worked for at a different employer would have walking meetings where the whole team would get up and discuss current problems from tasks they were working on, etc.
- Someone1234 11y ago
  You do have to be careful however, otherwise you could get accused of bias against the less-able (e.g. disabled, pregnant, older). So you can provide time to exercise, but if exercise-related activities become a core part of the work day, people who cannot take part might complain that they're being sidelined (see IT Crowd and Jen with the dance-meetings). I know we have someone with cerebral palsy who definitely would struggle to take part.

nutmeg 11y ago

In a documentary about Studio Ghibli, they show every couple hours where everyone gets up from their desk and does calisthenics, even Miyazaki. I don't know if this is common in Japan or just a Studio Ghibli practice, but I was impressed with the idea of it.

greggman 11y ago
It's not uncommon to have 1 stretch break a day that's lead by someone. As in they walk in the room and say "Okay everyone it's stretch time. Please stand up and follow my moves". I haven't personally seen it more than once a day and I've worked at Japanese companies that didn't have it though.
g0v 11y ago
That is common in Japan among jobs from office workers to mechanics. I was stationed there for some years and when we were in port the Japanese workers on the base would all line up outside their offices, sometimes turn on a little workout music, and one or two would lead in stretching and movement exercises. I'm sure they saw all the sailors looking and some laughing, but I think the joke was on us, ha!

beachstartup 11y ago

the best thing i've done in the past year is fork over a bunch of money to a personal barbell coach to get my ass up and into the gym on a regular schedule. he also supervises my general cardio routine. i'm simply unable to do it myself without the external personal and financial accountability. but once the money changes hands, i look at it like a business transaction / work and it taps into a different set of motivations in my head. if you've had false starts and other trouble getting on a resistance and cardio program, try hiring a good trainer. if you're intrinsically motivated to be fit, count your blessings.

totalrobe 11y ago
probably why crossfit is so successful while also being much cheaper in most cases than a personal trainer

the-dude 11y ago

So let me get this straight: at a place where they already burn you out, they will eventually force you to work even more by 'working out' ? Uhhh, no thanks.

panzagl 11y ago
Don't know why you're getting downvotes, this is some "Brave New World" level BS- it's not enough to own your ass for 10-12 hours a day, now you have to spend another hour on a treadmill so they can get more out of you. Hope you're also spending a couple of hours on 'passion' projects to keep your skills sharp, and getting a full 8 hours of sleep as well. Unless you're getting paid like a pro athlete screw that.
- csmattryder 11y ago
  It's ultimately your call as an employee if you want to work longer/harder/faster, but I don't think there's anything wrong with exercising and 'passion projects'. I exercise twice weekly, and spend around 2 hours on my own projects - purely so I am stonger, both physically and mentally - which'll lead me to higher paying work in the future (not to mention I love my pet projects!). My employers know that at 5:30, I down tools and under no circumstances, will respond to any calls/emails until 9am the following morning. Do what you do for you, not for anyone else.

6stringmerc 11y ago

After a few years in the health industry, whenever I see a statement like this one: Organisations wishing to proactively reduce burnout can do so by encouraging their employees to access regular exercise programs. My brain translates the suggestion into real-world application, which in the US seems to go like this: Organisations wishing to proactively increase wellness metrics and reduce their expenditures can do so by instituting highly invasive biometric screening programs and jacking up premiums, while offering no actual time or fiscal incentive to join a gym or exercise independently. Quick apology if that sounds terribly cynical, but it seems like the go-to path by businesses. I say this as a person who feels grateful to have a job where I can go home and work out for 20 minutes 3 times during the work week. Also, I know that eating "better" takes time and effort both in the sourcing and production of materials, which may or may not be less expensive to the individual in the short/long term.

shostack 11y ago
Unfortunately, I have to agree with this. I've seen it happen. What could very well be a win/win/win situation for companies (less turnover, lower rates), employees (better health, less burnout), and insurers (lower health risk and fewer payouts) ends up being something that removes a lot of (all of?) the benefit for employees, and just benefits the company and insurers.
- marcosdumay 11y ago
  It's normally changed into a lose/lose/lose situation, but companies and insurers won't realize their lose at the short term, so they pretend they won. They change an action with the goal of reducing stress into something that creates more stress. And even spend some money doing it (it's just cheaper than the real thing, but still costs). Nobody gains.
numbsafari 11y ago
Your comment reminds me of the "Stress" episode of the IT Crowd... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBmN_tisl9M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBmN_tisl9M
11y ago

jug5 11y ago

Only among the sedentary armchair warriors of HN would anyone be so detached from phyical exercise that this would be considered a new or novel finding.

gorena 11y ago

How are you supposed to find time to exercise when you're working 10-12 hours a day? I can barely find time to clean my apartment. And if you're not (can I have your job?), you're probably less likely to be burning out.

kelvin0 11y ago
It's called Work-Life balance, discipline and knowing what your priorities are.
- gorena 11y ago
  Unfortunately, my priority is surviving until a year at this place is up, so that I can quit without potentially being labeled a job hopper. I don't want to damage my career permanently.
  - tormeh 11y ago
    Try push-ups and hang-ups at home once per day. You have a floor, so push-ups are always available. Anything strong enough above-head will do for hang-ups: A staircase, with overhead steps you can grab hold off or a horizontal beam. If your landlord is fine with it, you can install a hang-up bar in a doorway.
    - kaybe 11y ago
      Someone put those up in our office, including a personal highscore sheet to mark your progress.
- g0v 11y ago
  This. At the end of the day it's up to you to find/make the time to balance your life out. I've been learning a lot lately about balance, it's more important than I used to think. FIND BALANCE!
btbuildem 11y ago
Don't work 10-12 hours a day ... that's how you burn out.

cowardlydragon 11y ago

.... no focus on recommended prescription drugs? Study is obviously flawed.

cpncrunch 11y ago
I'm not aware of any prescription drugs for burnout (except for treating certain symptoms of burnout, such as anxiety or depression).

nikolaj 11y ago

It is nice to have NIH give us a good justification for having a surfboard rack in the office :)

anti-shill 11y ago

anything possible to get more work out of us can only be a Good Thing

shostack 11y ago

I'm very fortunate to work for a company that values health and wellness to the point where they provide workout facilities for employees and trainers twice a week. I used to never go to a gym, and I'd be lucky if I could convince myself to do some bicep curls and situps/pushups at home in-between rounds of various games I play. I have weak discipline in that area. I've always had a high metabolism to the point where I was "scrawny", so I would never get fat from not working out, but I definitely felt the drain on my energy, and overall physical fitness and strength. Since starting at this company, while I've lost 15 pounds (not something skinny people typically aim for), I've gained a ton of muscle, and am physically in the best shape I've been in my entire life. The confidence that comes from that is one thing, but the increased energy and how it has helped me focus on work while reducing stress from juggling many balls are side benefits that were completely unexpected, and perhaps the greatest benefits. The fact that it was so noticeable to me was what really blew me away--it was literally night and day. TBH, I likely wouldn't do this though if we just had the gym and no trainers--I'm one of those folks who needs someone giving them instructions in the gym and yelling at them when they are slacking or doing it wrong. I'd wager that this has driven a significant productivity boost for myself (and likely others here) because of the overall increase in energy. I also end up focusing on tough work problems I'm trying to solve during my workouts because of the amazing increase in focus I have, and it is amazing to be able to focus with that level of clarity. It also probably helps cut down indirectly on insurance claims which is a nice plus. In this day and age of always being connected, and having 50 million things to juggle at once, it is easy to be overwhelmed. There's something about a solid workout that just forces all of these extraneous thoughts from your head and lets you focus on 1-2 things that I personally attribute to helping reduce the risk of burnout. The flip-side of course is ensuring proper work/life balance, and I'd say that is pretty healthy here as well (and was one of the deciding factors in me choosing to work here vs. elsewhere). Companies really need to embrace it and promote it as part of their culture, otherwise it becomes one of those things that they need to try to fit in along with everything else in an unsustainable way.

kazinator 11y ago

The sense of well-being from endurance exercise such as running is phony, however. You're not solving any problems when you go for a run. (And I don't mean technical problems whereby you figure out some software bug while you're out covering the miles, which is great!) Well, sure, you're temporarily solving the dependent problem of discomfort from the stress caused by problems, which is a problem itself. You have to use the sense of well-being as a motivator to actually confront problems when you come back from the roads or trails, rather than as a "drug" to escape from them.

sliverstorm 11y ago
It's not just the runner's high. I've noticed my mood is dramatically different on weeks I bike to work. The following week if I start driving I think to myself, wow I feel awful. Wow I'm unmotivated. Physical activity is not just escapism...
faitswulff 11y ago
This comment strikes me as far too cerebral. Exercise has demonstrably positive effects on not just mood (the sense of well-being, as you said), but cognitive function, physical performance, and longevity. If you go for a run in nature, you get a boost in creativity (http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0051474 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal....). Exercise is often social and can be used to network. Exercise isn't just a calorie-intensive vacation for your brain, it's an overall enhancement for life.
- kazinator 11y ago
  Excercise also causes stress. If I go two days without running, I feel in a low, agitated mood while at the same time physically lethargic. All throughout the day I have urge to lie down and take a nap. It's exactly like withdrawal from a drug. It starts on the first day off intensifies on the second day. Even a short run helps; for instance a single hard 800 m repeat. After that I feel normal, like on running days. The problem goes away after a week or two if I quit completely; it's caused by the exercise. Basically all the strictly positive stuff you hear, though not wrong in and of itself, is a rather unbalanced view spread by people who don't actually exercise, or not a whole lot.

myth_buster 11y ago

Could this be the case of missing the forest for the trees? Perhaps the burnout is happening due to stagnant wages and inflation which forces people to work longer or take up additional unfulfilling jobs. Exercises perhaps may only be helping in workers handle additional stress but doesn't improve their being on the whole. Productivity vs Hourly Wage [0] GDP vs Median household income [1] [0] http://www.decisionsonevidence.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Great-Prosperity-vs-Great-Recession.jpg http://www.decisionsonevidence.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/0... [1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e2/US_GDP_per_capita_vs_median_household_income.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e2/US_GDP_per_ca...

prostoalex 11y ago
For [0] and their total compensation calculation, have they included capital gains? The compensation shift from high-tax-rate wages to favorable-tax-rate stock options among the top-tier folks introduced $1/year CEOs, and then you have entire industries like software where stock options are frequently more important part of the compensation than wages. Not only one gets a favorable tax treatment for long-term capital gains, they can also choose when to trigger those tax events, selling over 40 years instead of one swift transaction.
tormeh 11y ago
Probably an ingredient, but I would guess the physically passive office jobs are a bigger problem.
jkyle 11y ago
Regardless of the cause if their baseline stressors, the subjects showed a reduction in their stress levels and increased various well-being metrics. I think that's the very definition of improving their well being on the whole. That there may be other ways to produce similar results, e.g. higher wages or less overall work hours (work/life balance) is not a counter point to the effectiveness of this particular method of accomplishing the same. On a side, even animals with no external pressures to work show increased levels of stress from inactivity.[1] Most animals like ourselves are simply not made for sedentary life styles. So much of our mental and physical well being requires physical activity of some kind in order to produce the chemicals needed for life satiety. There's such a mountain of evidence supporting this that studies like the above aren't even very interesting anymore. After basic necessities are met, healthy diet; moderate, regular exercise; and a sense of value and impact for one's work. Those are the not really that secret sauce to a fulfilled life. We've known this for a long time now. 1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15692095 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15692095

languagehacker 11y ago

Rad, now let's repeat it a few dozen times with a larger sample size, or it's an anecdote

larkinrichards 11y ago

As a long distance runner I have no doubt there's value to exercise. It pays to be healthy. It's also hard to stick to an exercise plan year round. This is a small sample size study that only lasted 4 weeks. Anecdotally, longer duration exercise regimes can themselves result in burnout-- it's hard to make it a habit. Perhaps the takeaway here is that a short-term exercise regimes can serve to distract you from the work that is burning you out?

stephendicato 11y ago

Eat healthy food. Exercise. Get enough sleep. You will feel better; both physically and mentally. Positive habit leads to more positive habit. Pay attention to how you feel. You don't need scientific studies to prove these things are "good" for you.

nazgulnarsil 11y ago

If you're a person for whom efficiency is highly motivating: http://lesswrong.com/lw/juc/optimal_exercise/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/juc/optimal_exercise/

zitterbewegung 11y ago

I love working out. It is so much fun now I have so much more energy!

zitterbewegung 11y ago

I love working out. It is so much fun now I have so much more energy!

spacemanmatt 11y ago

Wow, not one mention of yoga. It worked for me.

barry-cotter 11y ago
Yoga's great, (1-4 times a week depending on schedule) but it's far from optimal as cardio, weight training or flexibility training. It beats being a couch potatoe by miles but it's best seen as moving meditation not a complete fitness regimen.
randomsearch 11y ago
Or swimming --- excellent for RSI, cardio, working out all your muscle groups, learning a useful skill, low impact, easy to keep going into old age, weather independent, no crossfit mentality. And you can easily pop into the sauna and steam room.
- Hockenbrizzle 11y ago
  Totally agree. Nothing quite tones up everything like swimming does.

mangeletti 11y ago

I workout at the Golds here in Jupiter, FL every day after work. It started, like many times before, as a, "That's it! I'm getting into shape!", back in February. I wanted to put on some muscle weight (went from 180lbs in Feb to now 208lbs; my goal is somewhere around here). Then, like very few times before, it became an addiction. The exhilaration of high speed running (I'll set the treadmill to 12mph and see how long I can run at that speed - usually no more than 1/4 mile), the feeling of accomplishment after weights (I do weights every day, treadmill is just my warmup). My stress and anxiety (had serious anxiety since 2012 - drugs did nothing to help) have been reduced drastically. It's very strange because generalized anxiety disorder is more of an epinephrine issue, but when you have it it feels very much mental. It's not until you start finding relief from working out that you start to accept that it is truly a physiological issue. All the fears (worrying about loved ones, worrying about having some disease, worrying about job security, etc.) just fade away with each new workout. It just takes a couple months to get to this point.