Return To Work Made People Exercise More, Study Finds

Chances are that you read countless articles last year advising you how to keep fit during the harder lockdown period. However, now that the world has opened up and things have gone back to ‘normal’, one must wonder how this has affected our fitness habits? Especially since more and more people are spending less time at home and more time in the office?

Return to Work and Exercise Habits

RunRepeat set out to see how the exercise habits of people who were forced to work remotely during the pandemic changed once they returned to the office full-time.

To do this, they surveyed 2 494 people who were working remotely during the pandemic about their exercise habits before and after returning to work.

Photo by Arek Adeoye on Unsplash

What did the survey find?

The survey found that:

• 52% of non-exercisers are actively exercising, an average of 2.64 times per week since returning to work
• People who exercised 1-2 times/week have increased their exercise frequency by 93%
• Those who exercised up to 3 times/week have increased their exercise frequency by 57%
• People who exercised 4+ times/week have decreased exercise frequency by 14.16%

The least active have become more active

The survey found that “returning to work” created a boom in exercise for those who exercised the least. Those that exercised up to 2 times a week increased their exercise frequency by 125.93%, going from 0.98 times/week to 2.22 times per week.

Image by 5132824 from Pixabay

Funny enough, those who maintained a high frequency of exercising while working remotely during the pandemic were the only ones negatively impacted by the “return to work”. They experienced a decrease of 14.16%, going from exercising 5.23 times to 4.49 times per week since returning to the office full-time.

Runners felt the change as well

Running was the go-to option for people to stay fit. This is probably because it was one of the easiest ways to be active when other options were no longer feasible during the pandemic. That said, the survey also found changes in the habits of runners.

Runners in the low-frequency group saw an increase in exercise frequency of 150.88%. Those in the moderate frequency group saw an increase of 40.74%.

Conclusion

The pandemic-related event of returning to work in the office full-time signals a return to normalcy. It brings a familiar structure, routine, and lifestyle for many.

All of which has seemed to create significant growth in exercise rates for remote workers, who were the least active during the pandemic.

About RunRepeat

RunRepeat is the world’s largest athletic shoe review site. Analyzing over 7 million reviews makes buying the best running shoes for you easier through their innovative and algorithmic CoreScore rating.