Globally, the study revealed that yoga, walking and dancing are the top 3 exercises during COVID-19.
With an average of 1.4 million searches each month, 89.6 million hashtags on Instagram and 27 million article shares this year, yoga is an excellent stress-relief exercise, which involves a series of moving meditations, stationary poses, or postures, which are further combined with deep breathing techniques.
Yoga is a key form of exercise for stretching and strengthening the shoulders, back, and abdominals after a day in front of a computer screen. This is necessary as ‘failing to combat the daily hunch poses detrimental effects to our posture as well increases the risk of injury and inability to perform,’ according to Harvey Lawton.
Walking is a simple exercise that helps to boost our mood and relieve stress. With an average of 119,000 searches each month and 56.8 million article shares on the topic globally, it is the second most popular exercise for managing burnout. Walking helps to release tension in the body, both in the neck and in the legs. At the same time, walking can frequently reduce the incidence of stress-related conditions such as cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Walking helps to stretch and strengthen muscles and is also ‘beneficial for the hippocampus; which is the part of the brain that acts like a brake on the stress response,’ says Ruth Cooper-Dickson, a positive psychologist.
Dancing is a top exercise that can be done in any spacious room you have at home as an instant mood booster and stress reliever. With physical as well as mental benefits, dancing is a great workout that improves grace and agility as it raises your heart rate whilst using your legs actively, helping to strengthen your body and core muscles, simultaneously burning calories and reducing your risk of injury.
Dancing is a great exercise ‘for activating GABBA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) – this is an amino acid whose purpose is to calm the brain and act as a fire extinguisher to enable brain cells to suppress their activities,’ comments Ruth Cooper-Dickson. ‘GABBA activation also provides quick and effective stress relief” in an effort to clear your mind after a stressful working day.
