Ahead of World Mental Health Day on 10 October, Asics has enlisted actor Brian Cox to deliver a warning to the world to get away from their desks and move for their mental health in a powerful Public Service Announcement (PSA).

Asics’ global State of Mind study, involving 26,000 participants, revealed a strong connection between sedentary behaviour and mental wellbeing with State of Mind scores declining the longer individuals remain inactive. Further research into desk-based working found that after just two hours of continuous desk work State of Mind scores begin to drop and stress levels rise. After four hours of uninterrupted desk time, workers’ stress levels increased significantly by 18%. However, a new Desk Break experiment3 shows that just 15 minutes of movement can help to reverse the effects.

The Desk Break experiment, overseen by Dr Brendon Stubbs from King’s College London, found that when office workers added just 15 minutes of movement into their working day,...