Seventy-five percent of Americans surveyed say that self-care activities can help reduce stress, and exercising is one of the top stress-relieving activities, according to a survey by Vagaro, a business management and payment processing platform in the beauty, fitness and wellness industry.
Twenty-eight percent of those surveyed said that exercising outdoors was a stress relief activity while 24 percent said working out in a gym provided stress relief. Only two other activities came in higher on the list: at-home spa rituals (40 percent) and getting a manicure/pedicure (30 percent).
Seventy-three percent of Americans were more conscious of needing self-care in 2020 with 71 percent saying that society will collectively prioritize self-care in the next five years because of the events of 2020. Sixty-nine percent of those surveyed plan to do more self-care in 2021 than last year.
In 2020, the average person only had 65 minutes per week dedicated to self-care, but 45 percent of respondents see themselves having more time per week for self-care in 2021. In fact, people are willing to go pretty far in order to have more self-care time: one-third of Americans would be willing to move (35 percent), sell a personal belonging (33 percent) or even give up their favorite food (30 percent) for more self-care time.
“There’s an inevitable correlation between stress and self-care,” said Fred Helou, CEO of Vagaro. “Many people get so caught up in day-to-day responsibilities that they don’t prioritize time to take care of themselves, however, placing importance on activities that encourage relaxation can make you better equipped physically, mentally and emotionally to face life’s daily stressors.”
The online survey was created by Vagaro and conducted by OnePoll in December 2020. It includes responses from more than 2,000 Americans.