The increase levels of stress, ill health and impaired performance in the workplace may be contributed by lack of regular exercise.

A poll of over 1000 business people by Siemens found that 29% of female executives have no exercise at all, while less than a third did the recommended levels of three sessions per week. Men didn’t fair much better, with 32% admitting that they fail to take any exercise at all.

The survey shows that 2.3 million people are estimated by the research to suffer from ill-health caused by work related stress each year.  80% of business people agree that exercise helps to reduce stress levels, and busy lifetsyles prevented 60% both men and women from working out.

The National Stress Management awards  has been launched by the Stress Management Society to  give companies recognition for effective stress management policies in the workplace. "We’ve seen ideas like relaxation areas for quiet time, at-work exercise programmes like yoga or walking clubs, and ‘desk survival’ training," says Neil Shah, director of the Stress Management Society.

Regular internal communication about how to beat stress or reviewing the quality of food and drink served in the canteen are some indirect activities which helps a lot."