Mean Boss? Exercise Could Help Lower Stress, Study Shows

If it seems like your mean boss needs to chill, maybe you should suggest he or she hit the gym.

A new study in the Journal of Business and Psychology reveals that bosses who don't take the time to exercise are more stressed and lash out at their employees, compared with bosses who make time for fitness, the Telegraph reported.

The Times of India explained the way the study was conducted: 98 students enrolled in an MBA program at two different midwestern universities completed questionnaires, along with their 98 supervisors. The students were asked to rate their boss's level of abuse -- examples include the boss putting them down in public, or telling them their feelings are stupid.

Then, the supervisors answered questionnaires about their exercise habits and levels of stress in the workplace.

Researchers found that the more stressed out the bosses were, the more likely their employees were to say they felt like they were being victimized, the Times of India reported. And, the more the boss broke a sweat, the less abuse reported on the part of the employee.

"This is the first study to examine how exercise can buffer the relationship between supervisor stress and employee perceptions of abusive supervision," University of Northern Illinois researchers wrote in the study.

Everyday Health reported that a previous study, conducted by University of California, San Francisco researchers found that exercise is linked with lower chronic stress levels for women.

No one wants a mean boss, but past research also shows how it can take a strain on your marriage. Research from Baylor University suggests that people are more likely to report fighting or having feelings of irritation or resentment toward a spouse or partner if they also report having a supervisor who puts them down or gets angry at them.

For more strategies to reduce stress, check out these 10 tips from HuffPost blogger and fitness expert Frank Sepe:

Comments

[Ross Middleton]

05:31 PM on 01/30/2012

We have a gym at the office so it should be easy for me to send my boss downstairs for a quick jog on the treadmill!

http://www.runtheline.com/2411/beginner-half-marathon-training-plans

[LadyAriana]

05:46 AM on 01/30/2012

If I told my boss to hit the gym, he'd tell me to hit the street and start looking for a new job.

[pinetrale]

11:50 PM on 01/29/2012

Its really a mistake to keep dramas going at work as the anger level is contagious and self perpetuating in inducing all sorts of stress hormones in both the abuser and the victimized. Plus it undermines trust and ultimately efficently and good work product. I am taken by how often a boss will keep going after an underling just cause they can, and its repetitive, and a nasty thing to do to your employee. Highly expressed emotion in the workplace is just as bad as it is in a family and some people are especially sensitive to its toxic inducing effects.

[cortecoid]

01:54 PM on 01/29/2012

The idea is good - everybody who exercises, knows the overall good feeling it gives, and that is bound to spill over to the workplace behavior. I agree, though, with those who think trying to get the boss to do it may backfire. So the trick is how to make your boss exercise without him feeling you're telling him what to do. One needs fine people skills and diplomatic talent. BTW, the book that "mostinterested" mentioned here, Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant (I'm familiar with it) would be a very good help in that. Thanks for the Bad Bosses video link - quite fun.

[Carl Caroli]

03:41 PM on 01/28/2012

My bosses always loved it when I tried telling them what to do.

[MissAngela]

01:42 PM on 01/27/2012

I could see this back-firing very easily. "Hey mean boss, you know what you really need to do..."

[mostinterested]

05:23 AM on 01/27/2012

While exercise should definitely help - to a certain degree, "bad boss syndrome" usually goes deeper. I subscribe to the idea that inability to handle the responsibility of being a leader makes people regress to immature, childish behavior. There is an excellent book on the subject, Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant, by Lynn Taylor [www.tameyourtot.com], who also runs a very informative blog on Facebook. The book is written with great humor, and is really practical, for both employees and managers. Here is a YouTube video that gives a taste: http://ow.ly/8Ifvb