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A trait often identified with strong leadership is physical fitness. Now comes additional evidence that regular exercise makes you more positive and helps you resist stress.
Note to all leaders – your role contains stressors that will tempt you to experience anxiety and stress — you can follow in the footsteps of other great leaders and experience the power of physical exercise to lower stress and raise mental agility.
“It looks more and more like the positive stress of exercise prepares cells and structures and pathways within the brain so that they’re more equipped to handle stress in other forms,” says Michael Hopkins, a graduate student affiliated with the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory Laboratory at Dartmouth
Researchers found that, at least for rats, the big benefits kick in between the third and the sixth week of exercise. Humans should probably commit to at least six weeks of exercise and see how they fare — don’t give up. Persevere.
