COVID-19 is a dangerous pandemic disease, which makes us spend significantly more time at home. And it’s harder than anyone would have thought. People get depressed being closed between four walls and it’s not good. However, researchers at the University of British Columbia say that there is a simple healthy way to fend off depression during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Physical exercise has been proven to be extremely beneficial to your mental health and wellbeing. Image credit: Sardaka via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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This study included a group of 334 participants – 18-64 years olds who were not very physically active. Scientists divided participants into several groups. The first one was assigned to yoga, the second one – to HIIT, and the third one had to partake in a combination of both. Of course, there was a control group as well. Researchers were monitoring participants’ depressive symptoms, recording their levels before the study and every week after for six weeks. And probably the most important finding of this study was that all participants regardless of their exercise regime improved their mental health and faced fewer depressive symptoms.
COVID-19 lockdown in many cases took out gyms and daily commutes for many people. This meant that people became significantly less physically active. While at-home exercises became more popular, many people succumbed to laziness and an extremely sedentary lifestyle. But which one of those exercises was the best for mental health?
Researchers noticed the greatest change in the third group of HIIT+yoga – 72 % of participants from that group could no longer be categorized as having significant depression symptoms. And it only took six weeks – imagine how good you would feel if you maintained a good exercise regime for months and years. It is important to note that it is likely that the combination of HIIT and yoga worked so well because men and women who did those exercises at home exercised more frequently.
Scientists say that this is proof that at-home app-based exercises should be promoted as a mental health improvement. Dr. Eli Puterman, one of the authors of the study, said: “The findings show that we should be promoting at-home and app-based workouts as a beneficial tool to manage depression since it has little to no cost. Especially in light of the long-term mental health consequences COVID-19 will have on many adults even beyond the pandemic.”
Movement is always a positive thing. There are thousands of studies that show how great exercise is for your mental health. People are more likely to be depressed when they are lacking physical activity, which is one of the things people fell to during the first COVID-19 lockdowns. So if you are feeling down, look up some exercises that you can do at home and have fun.
Source: UBC