Mens sana in corpore sano
Schools the world over have long sought to develop both mental
and physical wellbeing, many of them even using the above quota-
tion from Latin poet Juvenal as their school motto: a healthy mind
in a healthy body. In the high street, gyms and fitness centers are
now widespread, but much of the business world has been slower to
catch on.
As well as keeping you generally healthier, physical exercise—
especially aerobic exercise—helps you to relax and to recall things.
It reduces stress by triggering the release of endorphins in the brain.
At a simple biological level, it sends a burst of oxygenated blood
into the brain, so arousing the nervous system generally. According
to the Pasteur Institute, exercise stimulates the growth of dendrites
and axons, and is, therefore, literally changing the state of your
brain.
In an increasingly inactive world of couch potatoes and tele-
vision, regular exercise has to be one of the most obvious things you
can do to improve the state of your mind. And, if you are thinking
that personal fitness may be a reasonable goal for individuals, but
will never catch on at work in any organized way, consider the fol-
lowing example from one of Britain’s leading supermarket chains,
Sainsbury’s, developed with learning and communications experts
Purple Works. It is called the Fit for Life program.
In the past, most attempts to link performance to health and fitness have
centered on the reduction of absenteeism.This placed the emphasis on an
individual being present at work, rather than focusing on improving their
performance.
Sainsbury’s Finance Division recently began to explore the idea of
creating a work environment that inspires health and fitness. For its
director, Hamish Elvidge, this is one of the new challenges for leaders in
the twenty-first century.The company has developed an approach that is
every bit as much about leadership as it is about health and fitness.
A trial of the ‘Fit for Life’ program enabled the senior management
team to learn enough about the links between fitness and the
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