Vanessa Ortiz 1

Vanessa Ortiz

Dr. Sharity Nelson

ENGL 1302-101

12 September 2022

Running Stimulating Productivity

Introduction

The discourse of running and exercising helping with productivity has been going on for

ages. It’s a common question that goes through everyone’s head: does running for a certain

amount of time everyday increase the productivity levels within an individual? There are many

articles that contribute to this study. For example, in the article “Association between physical

activity, sedentary time, participation in organized activities, social support, sleep problems and

mental distress among adults in Southern Norway: a class-sectional study among 28,047 adults

from the general population” research found that physical activity can help reduce depressive

symptoms (Stea et al. 2). This supports the idea that if people run for 30 minutes or more, their

mindset will lead them to become more energetic, increasing productivity. If the mental health of

a person doesn’t decline when doing some form of exercise, then that must give the person the

motivation to do work. The whole purpose of this research is to emphasize the importance that

physical activity, in this case running, has on the levels of work efficiency in school, work, or at

home.

Methods

It’s fairly easy for someone to conduct this study. This experiment can be tested in four

days: Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. All a person needs is running shoes and a

nearby park if that’s how they prefer to run. Everyone is different and can choose any time of
 Vanessa Ortiz 2

day they want to run, however for the experiment conducted 6:30 pm was the time that was

measured. The experiment consisted of a 15 minutes increment each day to the amount of time

the person was running. For instance, on the first day a person runs for 30 minutes, then the

second 45 minutes, etc. On the last day, there will be no running or physical activity. This is to

demonstrate the effects that running for long periods of time has on a person's mindset and

physical nature. After running, notes were taken down of the work a person accomplished and

the productivity overall. This is for each day the experiment was being conducted. The

experiment at the end shows the growth in production after running, or jogging, over different

periods of time.

Results

The results of this research were stable for the matter of the three days it was being

experimented, where running was involved. However on the day there was no running, there was

a decrease. The person seemed to procrastinate on all their assignments, whereas the days they

would run, every assignment was done even leaving them with extra time to read or watch tv.

Running time Breaks Work done

Saturday 30 minutes 2 Homework and extra

exercise

Sunday 45 minutes 1 Chores and

babysitting

Monday 1 hour 1 Homework and

reading

Tuesday No running - Very little homework

Productivity
 Vanessa Ortiz 3

Over the past three days, based on the data written down in the research, the productivity

levels were constant when running. Even though running is a great factor in a person being more

active, it doesn’t show major outbreaks each day the person runs. Nevertheless if a person stops

running and doing any exercise, there will be a fall into productivity. In the article, “Physical

exercise at the workplace prevents deterioration of work ability among healthcare workers:

cluster randomized controlled trial” researchers found that by exercising for 9 months, it helped

prevent a decrease in work ability (Jakobsen et al. 2). This demonstrated that work efficiency

improved when the workers in the field exercised for a certain amount of time.

Mental Health

Even though mental health wasn’t being studied in this experiment, there was a drastic

change in it too. The participant experienced a boost of energy every time they finished running.

They also realized that it would somehow put them in a better mood. An article stated, “Physical

activity can also improve mental health and cognitive performance” (Manning et al. 1). This

supports the idea how being physically active is positive toward mental stability and decreases

any symptoms of depression. Signs of good mental health also are key factors in productivity. If

someone has a bad mentality, the motivation will also be affected in the process by no work

being done at all.

Discussion

Overall, running has a positive effect in people 's day to day routines. The data gathered

in the experiment demonstrated how productivity increases if a person is physically active by

exercising or running. Many articles contributed to the experiment as well. For instance, the

author of the article, “Autonomy enhances running efficiency” studied how different speeds of

running can be effective (Takehiro et al. 687). The research suggested that by the change in
 Vanessa Ortiz 4

speed, a person will be left feeling different and energetic by the end of it. This is beneficial to

the experiment that was conducted because instead of speed changing, the time did, allowing the

participant to run a greater distance each day. Even though everyone's body and mindset is

different, people should include running, or physical activity, in their daily routine so they can

have a productive day.

 Vanessa Ortiz 5

Works Cited

Iwatsuki, Takehiro, et al. “Autonomy enhances running efficiency” Journal of Sports Sciences,

vol. 37, no. 6, 2019, pp. 685-691. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2018.1522939.

Jakobsen, Markus, et al. “Physical exercise at the workplace prevents deterioration of work

ability among healthcare workers: cluster randomized controlled trial” BMC Public

Health, vol. 15, no. 1, 2015, pp. 01-09. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-2448-0.

Manning, Jeremy, et al. “Fitness tracking reveals task-specific associations between memory,

mental health, and physical activity” Scietific Reports, vol. 12, no. 1, 2022, pp. 01-12.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-17781-0.

Stea, Tonje, et al. “Association between physical activity, sedentary time, participation in

organized activities, social support, sleep problems and mental distress among adults in

Southern Norway: a class-sectional study among 28,047 adults from the general

population” BMC Public Health, vol. 22, no. 1, 2022, pp. 01-11.

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12769-x.