ASICS, the sportswear brand, has launched a provocative campaign to highlight the mental health risks associated with desk work. Its global State of Mind study, involving 26,000 participants, revealed a strong link between sedentary behavior and declining mental wellbeing. Additional research focused specifically on office workers and found that after just two hours of continuous desk work, people start feeling worse, with stress levels rising significantly after four hours. To drive the message home, ASICS enlisted actor Brian Cox (aka Succession's patriarch, Logan Roy) for a PSA, where he plays "the world's scariest boss" and emphasizes that the real threat to mental health is the desk itself.
Unsurprisingly, ASICS' research also offers a solution — its desk break experiment, overseen by Dr. Brendon Stubbs from King's College London, demonstrated that a mere 15 minutes of movement can help reverse the negative effects of sedentary screen time. After moving, researchers found that activity across the brain's frontal, central and limbic regions increased, "resulting in enhanced focus, reduced stress and improved sense of calm."
Participants who incorporated a 15-minute movement break into their workday saw a 22.5% improvement in their mental state. Over the course of a week, these brief breaks lowered stress levels by 14.7%, boosted productivity by 33.2%, and improved focus by 28.6%. In light of these findings, ASICS is encouraging its own office-based employees to take regular movement breaks and is inviting workers worldwide to (a) join the #DeskBreak movement on World Mental Health Day, 10 October 2024, and (b) make desk breaks an employee benefit. A downloadable guide includes a letter people can submit to their HR department.