As if you needed another reason to hit the gym or take a walk each day when you get home from work — exercise is now being touted as the key to leaving stress behind.

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Burning just 587 calories can make a significant impact, the authors of a new study on the subject reported. That’s not terribly tough to accomplish, but it takes a commitment. The average person might run for 45 minutes or walk for an hour-and-a-half.

It is the best way you can keep job stress at the office and away from those you love, according to researchers from the University of Central Florida. Their study found that employees who recorded an average of more than 10,900 steps each day were less likely to get angry at home than those who recorded fewer than 7,000.

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The other critical factor was sleep.

Along with survey respondents, the researchers tracked the sleep patterns of 118 MBA students with full-time jobs. Those who slept seven to nine hours each night had a far better demeanor than those who slept less than that.

One of the researchers said the study offered a new perspective on the importance of getting an adequate amount of sleep and exercise. Perhaps it does — but chances are, many of us have had circumstantial evidence for quite some time. Now we have hard data to back up that theory.

Leave work at work, go for that run — and rest up! The whole family will be better for it.