Healthy Body, Healthy Mind: Can Exercise Increase Resilience?

The positive impact of exercise on mental health and general wellbeing is well known — but can exercise impact your resilience?

Benefits of regular exercise

As well as improved cognitive function and mental and physical wellbeing, regular exercise enhances sleep and allows opportunities for social interaction, all of which have a positive impact on resilience. The Copenhagen City Heart Study, carried out over 25 years, found physical activity can increase life expectancy, including tennis (9.7 years), cycling (3.7 years), swimming (3.4 years), jogging (3.2 years), and health club activity (1.5 years) (Schnohr et al. 2018).

Data from our ResilienceBuilder® survey on exercise and resilience

Data from a survey of 345 people in the technology sector using the ResilienceBuilder® Assessment Tool supports this. Among people with high levels of resilience, 72% exercised regularly, 75% enjoyed quality sleep and 95% had a strong social network — compared to those with average levels of resilience, where 50% exercised regularly, 43% had quality sleep and 75% had a strong social network.

Evidence from intervention programmes

Workplace exercise programmes, including supervised exercise, aerobic, and weight training, have seen significant improvements in psychological wellbeing and mental health and quality-of-life outcomes, resulting in increased resilience (Brand 2006, Atlantis 2004). A 2008 trial on US military personnel found stress levels to be inversely related to aerobic fitness, suggesting physical fitness may buffer some stress responses and thereby increase resilience (Taylor et al), potentially through an increase in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), responsible for the production of brain cells and connections.

Recent research by Stanford University has shown that productive creative thinking improves by 60% on average whilst walking and for a short time afterwards, and a 2022 study by the Rochester Del Monte Institute (US) identified actual changes in the brain, with more flexible allocation of cognitive resources during dual-task walking.

The Rochester Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience study

26 healthy adults aged 18–30 were asked to view a series of images while either sitting in a chair (single task) or walking on a treadmill (dual task). 14 (54%) of the subjects found it easier to dual-task compared to single-tasking — interesting and unexpected, since most studies in the field show that multitasking generally lowers performance. Electroencephalogram (EEG) analysis revealed a change in frontal brain function in the 14 participants who improved at the task while walking, but not in the 12 who did not. This altered brain activity may be a sign of enhanced brain flexibility or efficiency, with neural resources used differently. These findings reinforced earlier research that exercise improves cognitive and memory function.

The science behind exercise and resilience

Regular exercise improves cognitive and memory function in the short and long term through an increase in BDNF, responsible for the production of brain cells and connections (key to reasoning), and hippocampal function, responsible for learning and memory. Both are adversely affected by cortisol released during stress (Cassilhas 2012). Higher resilience quells cortisol release, allowing neural adaptation and proliferation (Mikolajczak et al. 2007), resulting in short-term benefits of improved cognitive function, memory and reasoning, and protection against future mental decline.

A recent study confirms Cassilhas’ findings. The intervention group completed an aerobic exercise programme consisting of a light cycling block (weeks 0–6) and a moderate/vigorous cycling block (weeks 6–12); the control group were asked not to change their physical activity habits. Participants were included if they were classified as sedentary (under 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise, fewer than 3 days a week, for the past three months) and aged 18–55. The 12-week programme enhanced exercise-induced serum BDNF production, which correlated with changes in the pre-frontal cortex and subsequent improvements in higher executive brain function (Ronca et al, June 2026).

Short-term and long-term benefits of exercise on resilience

Regular exercise can lead to increased creative output, improved memory and attentiveness, increased self-confidence, reduced negative thinking and stress, enhanced mood, reduced risk of depression, diabetes and heart disease, lower blood pressure, and higher resilience (Chapman 2013).

So what type of exercise could you incorporate into your routine? Walking is a good place to start, ideally at a pace greater than 2 miles/hour, with the greatest health benefits seen at 4–6 miles/hour. Organising a call in advance with a client or colleague while you are both outside is a great way of keeping body and mind healthy — alternatively, set up a regular time to walk with friends and family. But check the weather forecast before you set off.

Book a discovery call to see how physical stamina fits into the ResilienceBuilder® five-facet model.