Fitness and Exercise

• Researchers found that one in three men don’t workout regularly – despite reporting mental and physical health benefits. 

• Most men who skip workouts notice real effects: fatigue or low energy (47%), irritability (33%), or a hit to their mental well-being (37%).

• Awareness is low about how issues like low libido (18%) or erectile problems (15%) may actually signal bigger health concerns like heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, or depression.

  ---

Think about how often you’ve heard someone say working out gives them more energy, a better mood, and yes—a confidence boost. 

The Cleveland Clinic’s latest MENtion It survey confirms that many men do feel those benefits; however, nearly one in three still don’t exercise regularly. 

“Men sometimes focus on their physical health, but mental and sexual health are just as important, and they’re all connected. When one area is off, it can affect the rest,” Petar Bajic, M.D., director of the Men’s Health Section at Cleveland Clinic’s Glickman Urological Institute, said in a news release.

“Health challenges rarely happen in isolation and understanding that connection is key.” 

The study

A team of researchers from the Cleveland Clinic reached out online to a panel of 1,000 U.S. men ages 18 and up in early June 2025. 

The data, gathered via YouGov and weighted to represent adult American men, was collected between June 3 and 5. 

The results

First off, 30% of the men involved in the study didn’t work out regularly — despite a majority saying they notice real downsides of skipping workouts. Among those who do exercise, 47% felt fatigue or lower energy when they skipped sessions, 33% got more stressed or irritable, and 37% experienced a dip in mental well-being.

Sexual health shows a similar story. A solid 61% say their physical fitness affects their sex drive, yet nearly 18% reported low sexual desire in the past year. 

The researchers explained that many men don’t realize these can be warning signs of something more serious. Specifically, 72% didn’t know these signs can point to heart disease, 74% didn’t know about links to diabetes, 65% were unaware of high blood pressure connections, and 59% hadn’t heard mental health could play a role. 

Stress was also a critical factor in the survey. Over 85% of the men surveyed reported feeling stress, anxiety, or mental exhaustion in a regular week. 

The researchers found that two factors that play into that are comparisons to others online and body image concerns. 

On the positive, 66% said that they have or would seek out help from a mental health professional. 

“When men are proactive about their health by exercising, getting regular screenings, exams, and prioritizing their mental health, it can help prevent many health problems and identify some when they are in early, curable stages,” said Dr. Bajic.

• Findings from a recent study found that walking more—especially aiming for around 7,000 steps per day—was linked to fewer depressive symptoms in adults.

• Every extra 1,000 steps per day correlated with about a 9% lower risk of depression.

• The effect was consistent across ages, sexes, and step-tracking methods, suggesting walking is a universally accessible mental‑health tool.
  

Researchers from the University of Castilla‑La Mancha (UCLM) teamed up with international colleagues to examine how daily walking relates to depression in adults. 

The team pooled data from 33 observational studies involving around 96,000 participants, all tracked using wearable devices such as pedometers and accelerometers.

Their goal? To find out whether walking more each day—measured objectively—could be tied to lower rates of depressive symptoms and risk.

The study

The researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis:

1. They searched multiple literature databases up to May 2024 and identified 33 studies (27 cross-sectional, 6 longitudinal) involving over 96,000 diverse adults.

2. These studies tracked daily steps using reliable wearables and measured depression using clinical diagnoses or symptom questionnaires.

3. Participants were grouped by step ranges (e.g., <5,000; 5,000–7,499; 7,500–9,999; ≥10,000), and researchers analyzed risk or symptom reduction associated with each range.

4. They adjusted for variables like age and sex and checked the robustness of results.
   

The results

Ultimately, the results were promising. The study found that adults walking 5,000–7,499 steps/day had significantly fewer depressive symptoms than those walking under 5,000 steps per day.

The more participants walked, the better their mental health. The study showed that walking 7,500–9,999, and especially 10,000+ steps/day, showed even stronger links to lower depression-related symptoms.

Notably, hitting around 7,000 steps/day stood out, as it was linked to a marked reduction in future depression risk compared to fewer steps.

It’s also important to note that with each additional 1,000 steps/day, depression risk dropped by roughly 9%.

What does it mean for you?

Walking is free, simple, and easy to integrate into daily life. This analysis suggests even light, regular steps—especially around 7,000+ per day—can add up to real mental‑health benefits.

It doesn’t require gym time or intense workouts—just consistent movement. Boosting your daily step count, even in shorter bursts, may help protect against depression.

“Daily step counting could be an important strategy in the general population to promote physical activity and contribute to the prevention of depression,” researcher Bruno Bizzozero Peroni wrote. 

“Based on the available evidence, we emphasize the need for further longitudinal studies to clarify the protective role of daily steps in preventing depression during adulthood. In the meantime, if you've read this far, stop reading and go for a brisk walk.” 

• Matching workouts to your personality can boost both enjoyment and results.

• Extroverts tend to enjoy high-intensity or group sessions, while those high in neuroticism prefer shorter, private workouts and get more stress relief. 

• Personality traits like conscientiousness link to baseline fitness and activity levels, and neuroticism predicts greater drops in stress after training.
  

A new study from University College London asked a simple question: Do our personalities influence what workouts we enjoy — and how well they work? 

The research focused on the "Big Five" traits — extroversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, and openness — and tested whether those traits related to fitness levels, session enjoyment, and stress reduction. 

“We found that our personality can influence how we engage with exercise, and particularly which forms of exercise we enjoy the most,” researcher Dr. Flaminia Ronca said in a news release.

The study

For the study, the researchers had 86 volunteers complete the full program. All participants completed surveys measuring stress and Big Five traits before the intervention.

Researchers measured peak oxygen uptake, which is the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during intense exercise, as well as heart‑rate measures and general fitness.

An intervention group did home-based cycling and strength training for the duration of the eight-week trial, while a control group maintained their usual routines. Enjoyment of each session was logged via questionnaire. 

The results

Ultimately, the researchers identified a link between the Big Five traits and overall fitness. 

• Conscientiousness: Participants high in this trait tended to start with better general fitness and logged more weekly activity.
  

• Extroversion: This trait was linked to higher peak oxygen uptake and peak power output, as well as greater enjoyment of high‑intensity sessions.
  

• Neuroticism: This trait was correlated with poorer heart-rate recovery and less enjoyment of sustained, intense workouts.
  

The study also revealed links between the Big Five personality traits and exercise enjoyment. 

Extroverts preferred explosive, high-energy sessions like high intensity interval training (HIIT). On the other hand, highly neurotic individuals felt less enjoyment from longer lab-based or sustained efforts, but they experienced the greatest stress reduction from aerobic training.

Participants who ranked highest in openness actually reported lower enjoyment for very intense workouts — an unexpected finding that challenges earlier assumptions.

Those with the most agreeableness aligned with more enjoyment for easy, longer sessions. 

What It Means for You

This study shows that recognizing your personality traits can help you pick workouts you’ll actually enjoy — and, in turn, stick with.

• If you thrive in high-energy, social environments, try high-intensity or group sessions.
  

• If you're sensitive to stress or self-conscious, start with short, private workouts — your mental health might thank you.
  

• Do you prefer structure? A regular routine might feel right.
  

• Rather than pushing through discomfort, pay attention to what feels energizing (or not) — it might just lead to better results and well-being.
  

“We hope that if people can find physical activities that they enjoy they will more readily choose to do them,” senior author Prof. Paul Burgess said in the news release. 

“After all, we don’t have to nag dogs to go for a walk: being so physically inactive that we start to feel miserable might be a peculiarly human thing to do. In effect, our body punishes us by making us miserable. But for some reason, many of us humans seem poor at picking up on these messages it is sending to our brain.”

For those of us who work behind a desk, we’re doing a lot of sitting. 

All that sedentary time adds up, and according to a new study published in JAMA, there are health risks associated with sitting for too long. 

The researchers found that in order to counteract the negative effects of excessive sitting, desk workers are encouraged to do some extra exercise each day. 

“These findings suggest that reducing prolonged sitting in the workplace and/or increasing the volume or intensity of daily physical activity may be beneficial in mitigating the elevated risks of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease associated with prolonged occupational sitting,” the researchers wrote. 

Too much sitting comes with risks

For the study, the researchers analyzed data from nearly 500,000 participants who were enrolled in a health surveillance program in Taiwan from 1996 through 2017. Researchers collected information on the participants’ jobs, lifestyle, physical activity, and overall metabolic health, including blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and more. 

Ultimately, the researchers learned that sitting down for large portions of the day wasn’t good for the participants’ longevity. The study showed that those who had jobs that required sitting for the majority of the day had a 34% higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease, and a 16% higher risk of death from any cause. 

Exercise can help

However, you can counteract these negative health risks with some added exercise. The researchers explained that by increasing exercise each day, mostly sitting workers can lower their mortality risk. 

When sedentary workers upped their exercise by 15-30 minutes per day, their mortality risk lowered to match another group in the study – those who are more active at work but aren’t physically active. 

Another option: take frequent breaks throughout the work day to break up long periods of sitting. The study found that individuals who alternated throughout the day between sitting and standing were also not at an increased mortality risk. 

“As part of modern lifestyles, prolonged occupational sitting is considered normal and has not received due attention, even though its deleterious effects on health outcomes has been demonstrated,” the researchers wrote. “Emphasizing the associated harms and suggesting workplace system changes may help society to denormalize this common behavior, similar to the process of denormalizing smoking.” 

Are you someone who sets their alarm for 5 a.m. to ensure you make your 6 a.m. workout? Or are you someone who gets all their work and responsibilities done throughout the day, and plans their workout for early or late evening?

Or are you someone embarking on a health journey and you’re unsure when to plan your exercise? Results from a recent study published in Obesity may be of help. 

Compared to those who worked out later in the day, researchers found that working out between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. was associated with better weight loss outcomes. 

“This is exciting new research that is consistent with a common tip for meeting exercise goals – that is, schedule exercise in the morning before emails, phone calls, or meetings that might distract you,” said clinical psychologist and behavioral weight management expert Rebecca Krukowski, PhD. 

Early workouts yield better outcomes

To better understand what time of day exercising yields optimal weight loss outcomes, the researchers analyzed data from over 5,200 participants enrolled in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2003 and 2006.

Over the course of the study, the participants wore accelerometers to measure their activity levels for at least four consecutive days but up to seven days total. Then, based on when they worked out, they were put into one of three groups – morning, midday, or evening. 

The two primary factors that the researchers measured were body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference. The study revealed that those who worked out in the morning had both lower BMIs and lower waist circumferences, on average. 

More to consider

It’s also important to note that other factors may have affected these results. For instance, participants who regularly worked out in the mornings were older – by at least a decade – than participants in the other two groups.

They also had never used tobacco or alcohol, had the most female participants than any of the other two groups, and also had the most amount of sedentary time of the three groups. 

While the findings from this study certainly provide insight into health, wellness, and weight loss, experts say that there is more to consider. 

“It is not known whether people who exercise consistently in the morning may be systematically different from those who exercise at other times, in ways that were not measured in this study,” Dr. Krukowski said. “For example, people who exercise regularly in the morning could have more predictable schedules, such as being less likely to be shift workers or less likely to have caregiving responsibilities that impede morning exercise. 

“Predictable schedules could have other advantageous effects on weight that were not measured in this study, such as sleep length/quality and stress levels. In addition, the ‘morning larks’ who consistently rise early enough for morning exercise may be biologically different from their ‘night owl’ counterparts.” 

A new study conducted by researchers from Edith Cowan University is shedding light on an important exercise topic. Their findings showed that consumers who consistently exercise for shorter periods of time may reap more health benefits than consumers who do longer workouts less frequently. 

“If you’re just going to the gym once a week, it’s not as effective as doing a little bit of exercise every day at home,” said researcher Ken Nosaka. “This research, together with our previous study, suggests the importance of accumulating a small amount of exercise a week, then just spending hours exercising once a week. 

Getting consistent with exercise

The researchers had 36 young adults involved in the study. They were broken up into three groups to do different variations of bicep curls. One group did just six muscle contractions one day a week, a second group did six muscle contractions five times per week, and the third group did 30 muscle contractions one day per week. When they did the exercise, the participants were hooked up to a machine that measures muscle strength and thickness. 

The participants who did six muscle contractions five days a week ultimately had the greatest health outcomes. The researchers found that these participants increased their muscle strength by 10% and their muscle thickness by about 6%. Participants who did all 30 muscle contractions in one day improved their muscle thickness by just under 6%, but their muscle strength stayed the same. The group who did six muscle contractions once a week showed no improvements in muscle strength or thickness. 

“People think they have to do a lengthy session of resistance training in the gym, but that’s not the case,” Nosaka said. “Just lowering a heavy dumbbell slowly once or six times a day is enough. We only used the bicep curl exercise in this study, but we believe this would be the case for other muscles also, at least to some extent.” 

Though these findings highlight the importance of consumers being consistent with their workouts, the researchers also explained that taking rest days can be just as important. 

“Muscle adaptations occur when we are resting; if someone was able to somehow train 24 hours a day, there would actually be no improvement at all,” Nosaka said. “Muscles need to rest to improve their strength and their muscle mass, but muscles appear to be stimulated more frequently. 

“If someone’s sick and can’t exercise for a week, that’s fine, but it is better to just return to regular exercise routine when you’re feeling better.” 

A new study conducted by researchers from the American Heart Association highlighted the benefits of exercising regularly. Their findings showed that consumers who exceeded national recommendations for weekly exercise goals had a lower risk of death. 

“The potential impact of physical activity on health is great, yet it remains unclear whether engaging in high levels of prolonged, vigorous, or moderate intensity physical activity above the recommended levels provides any additional benefits or harmful effects on cardiovascular health,” said researcher Dong Hoon Lee.

“Our study leveraged repeated measures of self-reported physical activity over decades to examine the association between long-term physical activity during middle- and late-adulthood and mortality.” 

Lifelong benefits of exercise

The researchers analyzed data from over 100,000 people enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study between 1988 and 2018. The participants answered surveys about their lifestyles every two years. The questions covered subjects like alcohol intake, medical history, general health information, and exercise habits. 

Current guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommend that adults engage in 2.5 to five hours per week of moderate activity or 75-100 minutes per week of vigorous physical activity. Those who met the recommendations for either vigorous or moderate activity had a 20% lower risk of death. 

The study findings showed that surpassing weekly exercise recommendations was linked with living a longer life. Doing two to four times the amount of moderate exercise each week was linked with a nearly 40% lower risk of cardiovascular disease-related deaths and a 30% lower risk of death from all causes. Similarly, doubling or quadrupling the amount of vigorous exercise each week lowered the risk of cardiovascular disease-related deaths by nearly 35%, and all-cause deaths dropped by 23%. 

“This finding may reduce the concerns around the potential harmful effect of engaging in high levels of physical activity observed in several previous studies,” said Lee. 

The researchers hope these findings highlight the benefits of consistent exercise. When consumers make physical activity a habit and work to balance moderate and vigorous activity goals each week, they’re likely to achieve better health outcomes. 

“Our study provides evidence to guide individuals to choose the right amount and intensity of physical activity over their lifetime to maintain their overall health,” Lee said. “Our findings support the current national physical activity guidelines and further suggest that the maximum benefits may be achieved by performing medium to high levels of either moderate or vigorous activity or a combination.” 

Many consumers are interested in improving their physical fitness, and a new study conducted by researchers from the University of South Australia has made a case for the benefits of wearable fitness trackers. Their findings showed that the devices are effective at boosting consumers’ physical activity by increasing daily walking by as much as 40 minutes. 

“The overall results from the studies we reviewed show that wearable activity trackers are effective across all age groups and for long periods of time,” said researcher Ty Ferguson. “They encourage people to exercise on a regular basis, to make it part of their routine and to set goals to lose weight.” 

Improving physical fitness 

The researchers analyzed data from nearly 400 studies that included information on 164,000 people. All of the studies included data on wearable activity trackers (WATs) and how they affected the study participants’ activity habits. 

Ultimately, the researchers learned that the devices were effective at promoting more physical activity. When wearing a fitness tracker, participants were likely to walk around 40 more minutes per day. 

The researchers found that this boost in physical activity was also linked with weight loss. In five months, the extra walking was linked with an average weight loss of 1 kg, or 0.5 lbs. Though this number may seem small, the team explained that it can actually be meaningful long-term. 

“The average person gains about 0.5 kg a year in weight creep, so losing 1 kg over five months is significant,” Ferguson said. 

The researchers explained that the benefits of WATs may also go beyond physical activity and weight loss. Their work showed that the devices can allow consumers to improve symptoms related to anxiety and depression, as well as lower their cholesterol and blood pressure.