You Need to See the Science: Wellness Boosts Professional Success
- Team PureMaven
- May 28
- 11 min read
Updated: May 29
Who got fit first: the chicken or the egg?
We’ve all seen reels and ads promoting fitness. Whether it’s for a new drug, a gym, or the latest diet, the visuals are the same: someone is working out, then smiling confidently at work. It’s a clear message: the more fit you are, the better you’ll do at work. Science actually backs this up.¹ In a longitudinal study that tracked thousands of people across the US since the 1970s, researchers discovered that wealthier people were less overweight.² Another study covering 100+ countries identified that obesity was highest amongst the poor in higher-income countries.³
Intuitively, it makes sense. Healthier folks get sick less and live longer; they have more time to make money. Is the inverse also true: does more wealth lead to better fitness? It’s easy to argue that wealthy people are healthier because they can afford to work fewer hours, dedicate more time to, say, working out, and eating better. Celebrity CEOs are a prime example of this: Apple’s Tim Cook wakes up at 3:45 AM to work out. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg trained with MMA champions and got ripped. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos hired Tom Cruise’s trainer to go from “dad bod” to jacked.
While fitness and wealth seem related, it’s not clear whether fitness leads to wealth, wealth leads to fitness, or if it’s a bit of both. We decided to investigate towards a more definitive answer.
Our starting point is hard data. There was a lot.
The volume could fill a proverbial swimming pool, so our team dove right in. To identify what science says and separate fact from fiction, we investigated and reviewed 100+ research, systematic, and meta-studies conducted over the past 40+ years, looking into the relationships across fitness, wellness, work productivity, and career performance.
Our learnings are eye-opening. We’re sharing the top five things we believe every person who identifies as being in the workforce should know and would benefit from knowing. They can shape your fitness and wellness decisions relative to your goals, lifestyle, and career.
Truth #1: Working out grows your brain.
Yes, this is a literal fact. When you exercise, your brain grows bigger and develops better. The science behind it starts with understanding a core element of how our brains work: neuroplasticity.
“Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to learn, remember, and change,” says Dr. Andrew Budson, Chief of Cognitive & Behavioral Neurology at the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System and chair of the Science of Learning Innovation Group at Harvard Medical School.⁴ Neuroplasticity is how the brain responds to what we experience, perceive, and learn. Through this process, our brain reorganizes itself and essentially becomes, well, smarter.
Brain fuel
Certain growth factors, such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), support the survival and growth of neurons in our brain.⁵ In so doing, BDNF improves neuroplasticity and stimulates our brains to grow more, improving our ability to process information.⁶
The relationship between BDNF and our brains is quite fascinating. Higher levels of BDNF are associated with improved learning and memory.⁷ Similarly, lower levels of BDNF are “associated… with neuronal loss, such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis and Huntington's disease”.⁸ As if that weren’t bad enough, decreased BDNF levels are also associated with depression.⁹
BDNF is good. It boosts our brains.
Here’s the kicker: exercise causes our body to produce more BDNF.¹⁰ This leads to improved neuron health, and with it, improved learning and better memory. Simply put, working out grows your brain and makes you smarter. That should hopefully translate to better job performance.
But does it, really? Does exercise lead to better brains and improved work performance? We dug deeper.
Truth #2: Exercise, even a little (tiny) bit, improves work performance.
A 12-month before/after study revealed that employees who started exercising reported improved work performance soon after.¹¹ Even better, their supervisors echoed this assessment, proving it was more than a biased, optimistic perspective. Yet even more interesting? The supervisors’ assessments of the employees’ improvement were even higher than the employees’ own views of their performance (a rare occurrence to which most managers can attest).
What kind of exercise does it have to be, and how intense does it have to be to see these improvements? Surprisingly, not much. In the same study, the participants who improved their work performance burned only an additional 75 calories a day.¹² That’s equal to the calorie burn of the average male¹³ walking leisurely at 3 miles per hour for 15 minutes¹⁴ – the equivalent of just six city blocks.
The benefits of exercise–even just 15 minutes of it–on our ability to process and retain information have been noted in other studies. Even better, improvements kick in soon after initiating an exercise routine:
Next-day benefits: Two studies reported in the Harvard Business Review identified how exercise already improved job performance the following day.¹⁵
Same-day benefits: In another study, employees across multiple companies were more productive and delivered higher quality work on days when they exercised.¹⁶
Immediate benefits: In a study that involved participants across a wide age range (19 to 93), participants displayed better recall and working memory just minutes after exercising for 15 minutes.¹⁷
To be clear, these studies don’t suggest that 15 minutes of exercise a day is all we need. The data is strong, however, that even a little exercise leads to better cognitive function, memory, and job performance.
If exercise leads to better job performance, does exercise lead to earning more?
Truth #3: Exercise leads to higher income.
Yes, exercising has been shown to lead to improved job performance and higher income. One study looked at the impact of exercise on income on two groups of people: (i) those who exercised and then started exercising more, and (ii) those who didn’t exercise and then started exercising.¹⁸ The former experienced a 4% growth in their income. The latter? Their income increased even more: by 14%.
Other studies support the causal relationship between exercise and income. One study conducted on the US Labor Market indicated that regular exercise resulted in, and was not just associated with, a 6-10% increase in income.¹⁹ Another study focused on the relationship between playing sports and income also indicated that such exercise led to higher income.²⁰ A third study that analyzed thousands of twins over 15 years “showed that being physically active positively influenced…income, with physically active males receiving incomes some 14-17% higher than less active males”.²¹ ²²
Make no mistake about it, the jury’s verdict is clear: those who said exercising is a good investment were more right than we knew!
That’s a lot of scientific data we just covered, but the key points are groundbreaking, especially because they establish a causal relationship between a type of wellness and work success.
With such eye-opening data, we asked ourselves: is exercise the only way to turbocharge our brains? It’s a tough question to answer. There are hundreds of behaviors and supplements promising improved cognitive performance. Most of these, unfortunately, have not yielded scientifically proven benefits. That said, in our research, one behavior jumped out for not only its degree but also its range of benefits. It covers multiple aspects of mental functions, including neuroplasticity, cognitive performance, emotional regulation, and stress resilience, with many of the findings only becoming evident in recent years.²³ ²⁴
Truth #4: Mindfulness meditation also grows our brains and makes us smarter.
That is the literal truth as well. Multiple studies have shown that meditation increases gray matter in the human brain.²⁵ This is an important finding because gray matter is “where information processing happens” in our brains; it’s “the seat of a human’s unique ability to think and reason… [and where] learning, speech, and cognition take place”.²⁶ And in a landmark meta-study published in 2004, researchers revealed that mindfulness and meditation improved BDNF levels, neuroplasticity, and cortical thickness.²⁷ All these support and strengthen decision-making, problem-solving, and memory. Other meta-studies that looked into decades of research on meditation came up with similar conclusions.²⁸ ²⁹
All this rigor and depth to understand this behavior better point to one conclusion: mindfulness meditation grows our brains and makes us smarter.
And that’s not all it does.
Truth #5: Mindfulness meditation helps with a LOT of other physical and mental conditions.
Numerous studies have revealed the impact of mindfulness meditation across a range of physical, cognitive, and emotional functions:³⁰⁻⁴²
Perhaps more meaningfully, mindfulness meditation is also tied to greater happiness. Studies have indicated how mindfulness was associated with higher levels of happiness, a sense of purpose in life⁴³, and positive emotions.⁴⁴
Want more proof? Look no further than Wall Street. Meditation practitioners are a Who’s Who of the most successful CEOs, including business behemoths like Bill Gates, Jack Dorsey, and Oprah Winfrey. Throw in there a few billionaires and business titans, too, like Ray Dalio, Marc Benioff, Jeff Weiner, and Russell Simmons.⁴⁵ ⁴⁶ These CEOs not only practice meditation but have also cited its many benefits, including its immense impact on them and their employees to become more productive, problem-solve and drive to answers, and decrease health care costs, in addition to reducing stress.
All these benefits can be yours, too, and it doesn’t need to be overwhelming.
There’s a lot to unpack here. And there’s even more out there to further deepen our understanding. But if you’re looking for ways to start boosting your brain cells, you don’t need to go far. Consider these three easy and immediate expert-recommended next steps to start your wellness journey toward career success – and happiness:
Start today. All the mental gains from exercise and meditation require you to make that first step. Procrastination is what’s keeping you from benefiting from these. The best time to start good wellness habits was yesterday. The next best time is today.
Start small. You don’t need to run a marathon or meditate for hours before you see results. Help yourself overcome procrastination by starting with baby steps. Practice deep breathing for three minutes before a work call. Walk around the block after dinner. That will not only help you get your 15 minutes of exercise in, but also keep your insulin levels stable.⁴⁷ These simple steps are accessible for many of us without having to make significant investments other than the time it takes to get it done.
Do it again tomorrow. The goal is to integrate exercise and meditation into your life. Forming that habit means doing it again, then regularly. Anything good and lasting in life comes from good habits, both big and small.
Perhaps it is time to treat fitness and meditation less as bumper stickers and more like daily mantras. “I am nurturing and taking care of myself today” is an affirmation we all can get on board with because our wellness is the starting point of all our goals and aspirations.
Need extra inspiration? Keep this in mind: whether it is for professional or personal motivations, adopting fitness and meditation as a regular part of daily life can open doors you might have thought were already closed.
ABOUT US
Puremaven is on a mission to empower teams at work with well-being habits. Created by licensed professionals and certified experts, it's wellness one immersive experience at a time. Enjoy a complimentary consult with our expert curator team to find the right program for your team’s unique needs. Experience how a wellness workshop can equip your team with skills and rituals they - and you - can rely on again and again.
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References
1 Jonathan Shaw, "The True Magic Pill: Why Exercise Outperforms Every Drug for Health and Longevity," Harvard Magazine, August 13, 2024
2 Joseph D. Wolfe, Elizabeth H. Baker, and Isabel C. Scarinci, "Wealth and Obesity Among U.S. Adults Entering Midlife," Obesity (Silver Spring), December 2019.
3 Tara Templin, Tiago Cravo Oliveira Hashiguchi, Blake Thomson, Joseph Dieleman, and Eran Bendavid, "The Overweight and Obesity Transition from the Wealthy to the Poor in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Survey of Household Data from 103 Countries," PLOS Medicine, November 27, 2019.
4 Jennifer Fisher, MMSc, PA-C, "Tips to Leverage Neuroplasticity to Maintain Cognitive Fitness as You Age," Harvard Health Publishing, April 2, 2025.
5, 8 Siresha Bathina and Undurti N. Das, "Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and Its Clinical Implications," Archives of Medical Science, December 11, 2015.
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30, 35, 37 Paul Grossman et al., "Mindfulness Training as an Intervention for Fibromyalgia: Evidence of Postintervention and 3-Year Follow-Up Benefits in Well-Being," Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 2007.
31, 38 Katy Tapper et al., "Exploratory Randomised Controlled Trial of a Mindfulness-Based Weight Loss Intervention for Women," Appetite, April 2009.
33 Lizabeth Roemer et al., "Efficacy of an Acceptance-Based Behavior Therapy for Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Evaluation in a Randomized Controlled Trial," Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, December 2008.
36, 40 Antonio Crego et al., "Relationships Between Mindfulness, Purpose in Life, Happiness, Anxiety, and Depression: Testing a Mediation Model in a Sample of Women," International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, January 21, 2021.
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44 Cleveland Clinic, "How Walking After Eating Impacts Your Blood Sugar," November 17, 2023.
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