A study of 9,000 participants examined the effects of three coping strategies for stress, exercise, contact with family, and meditation.
Anxiety has been described as a “pandemic” of modern times. 30% of US adults “struggle” every day stress According to the US National Institute of Mental Health.
Anxiety symptoms include excessive worry, constant pressure and stress as well problems with sleep and concentration.
But what is the best way to deal with the stress that plagues us every day? A large study has highlighted that exercise is the best “medicine”.
What did the research show?
With the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting a 25% increase in anxiety rates during the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of Canadian researchers decided to look at what recreational activities people struggling with lockdown anxiety are turning to to determine what works and what doesn’t. it was not said.
In a published study In PLOS One researchers analyzed data from two separate surveys conducted during the pandemic, including a total of 8,818 participants.
The study looked at people’s participation in three activities:
- Exercise
- Communication with friends and family
- Meditation
From these activities, researchers found that participants who exercised saw the greatest benefit from their anxiety. In the first survey, 24.4% of regular exercisers reported no moderate to severe stressand in the second poll it was percentage 19%.
In “second place” came communication with family and friends. In the first survey, 19.9% of those who had more contact with their family and friends, and 18.3% in the second survey said that they did not experience moderate to severe stress.respectively, 18% and 12.7% reported severe anxiety symptoms.
The last and “sweaty” meditation comes. Participants who practiced meditation experienced the worst anxiety. In the first survey, 24% of meditators reported moderate or severe stress, while only 16.4% reported no such stress. In the second survey, 17.7% reported moderate to severe anxiety, and 11.7% did not report any.
As the researchers point out, the important thing is that each person finds what suits him and what he likes in order to “forget” his stress and cope better