While most Westerners take it as gospel that full-time work means working a five-day workweek, many labor groups, progressive businesses, and even governments are touting (and even testing) the viability of a four-day work week. Indeed, there are many well-studied benefits to only being required to work for four days instead of five, including improved employee mental health (without loss in productivity) and increased opportunities for personal productivity.
Now, a new study in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity reveals that there is another significant benefit to having more time off from work: Employees are healthier physically, as a result of being more likely to be physically active during their days spent not working. The authors extrapolate from this data conclusions about what would happen if four-day work weeks became more common.
