Staying at home helped contain pandemic to keep us healthy as a society, but it also had a huge impact on individual health – presenting both some unique challenges and solutions.
Were you able to take the time to start eating healthier, exercising, and focusing on your own personal health and are now dreading that getting back into your pre-plague routine will wipe out any progress you made?
Or were you like the other half of us who maybe picked up some less-than-healthy habits over the past couple of months?
Either way, it’s never been a easier to start those good habits, since pretty much any good habit you could do while you were sheltering in place, you can also do while on the road!
Staying in shape … at home and away!
With all of the gyms being closed, athletically minded people found new ways to keep moving (and help their friends and family get in shape and maintain their sanity). As a result, the internet is now positively bursting with fitness videos, blogs, and other content that will help you stay in shape in just a few minutes a day, without needing to any fancy equipment or steep gym fees.
For reps, travel-heavy schedules can make it tough to get into a healthy exercise routine thanks to all the time spent away from your local exercise facility – or just simply from not having the energy or time it takes to actually work up the motivation to get down to the gym.
But getting back to work doesn’t have to throw you off your game! Whether through 15-minute workouts, group yoga over video-chat, aerobic dancing, or anything in between, if you could find a way to get fit from your living room, you can definitely keep those habits alive right from the comfort of your hotel room.
Feeding the machine
Spending so much time at home put us in closer proximity to our pantries full of snacks. And with the stress of uncertainty and boredom that comes from having fewer outlets for our energy, many people got some relief by eating all day. By the middle of March, popcorn sales rose almost 48%, pretzel sales were up 47% and potato chip sales rose 30% compared to the same period last year, Bloomberg reported.
On the flip side, with restaurants being closed, many of us had to get a crash course in cooking for ourselves. For many people this was good for both their bodies and wallets, since food prepared at home is generally healthier than what you find at restaurants. Many experts are optimistic that the break from frequent restaurant-eating could be positive when it comes to nutrition, and are hopeful that we may come out of this healthier than before.