Indoor workouts spiked by 40% in India since January 2020

A report by Garmin reveals that outdoor activities witnessed a sharp fall between January and March 2020 while global lockdowns were enforced.

As the lockdown continues, people have been working hard to make sure they stay fit but exercising indoors (Pixabay)

You can't step out and you most definitely cannot go to the gym. Most people at home have turned to working out indoors to stay fit. Working out everyday helps create a routine and also helps boost immunity and people have been trying to keep up amid work and household chores.

According to data from Garmin Connect, between January and March 2020, activity count for outdoor sessions saw an overall drop of 15.5% with activity count for sports like golfing, hiking, trail running and running dropping by a 87.6%, 34.9%, 29.2% and a 18.8% respectively.

In comparison, indoor activities like floor climbing, yoga, pilates and indoor cardio workouts showed an overall increase of 38.5% between January and March.

Besides working out, it is also crucial to keep a consistent check on one's physiological data to actively monitor physical health and wellbeing. World Health Organization's "Clinical management of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) when COVID-19 disease is suspected" Interim Guidance highlights the importance of health monitoring data - one of the clinical syndromes is severe pneumonia where the patient may experience fever or suspected respiratory infection, plus respiratory rate of more than 30 breaths/min; severe respiratory distress; or SpO2 of less than 93% on room air.

Garmin India has identified five key health indicators to help users track and manage their health profile. Users can refer to data from their Garmin smartwatch with the five health indicators to identify any changes.

These 5 health indicators are:

Heart rate

It is generally believed that when the body temperature rises abnormally, the heart rate will increase; likewise, when the body temperature drops, the heart rate and strength of heart contractions will decrease accordingly.

Those with a higher resting heart rate can indicate a higher risk of getting cardiovascular diseases. Regular exercise decreases the body's sympathetic nervous activity, which lowers the resting heart rate, improves the heart function and results in a more flexible neuromodulation.

Respiratory rate

The normal respiratory rate of a healthy adult is 12 - 20 breaths per minute (brpm). A low respiratory rate is a general indication of good health. Even while exercising, the respiratory rate of those with better physical fitness levels tend to be lower.

There are many breathing techniques that can help you to manage your stress levels, relax and improve your concentration and sleep quality. Indulging in breathing exercises daily will help reduce the anxiety and stress and keep the health on track.

Blood Oxygen Saturation

Blood oxygen saturation is closely related to lung health. Blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) refers to the concentration of oxygen in human blood, which is the key index to measure health.

The ideal Spo2 level should be between 95-100%. A figure lower than 90% is considered too low, however, the figure may vary with individual physical differences. For instance, some people may feel discomfort at high altitudes because of the decrease in Spo2 levels.

Monitoring how your body responds and changes with different blood oxygen saturation levels in different states can help you understand your own body better.

Sleep monitoring

Quality sleep is the key to maintaining healthy body functions. When people go to sleep, they experience several cycles of rapid eye movement and non-rapid eye movement. The non-rapid eye movement stage can be further divided into deep and light sleep.

During the deep-sleep stage, the body will begin to repair, build bones, grow muscles and enhance the immune system. In normal circumstances, a healthy adult will get approximately 15-25% of deep sleep each night.

However, this figure varies amongst individuals. Garmin's sleep monitoring function records the level of blood oxygen saturation and the number of times you toss and turn throughout the night so you can closely monitor your sleep quality.

Stress monitoring

The tenser a situation is, the more we will need to stabilise our physical and mental states. When we are caught up in highly stressful situations over long periods of time, our physical and mental health can get affected from coping with the stress and these responses could be destructive to our health over time.

Garmin's stress detection function uses Heart Rate Variability (HRV) to estimate the body's stress levels. Training, physical activities, sleeping conditions, mental state and other daily activities will affect your stress levels.

Garmin's stress monitoring function measures stress levels from 0 to 100; 0-25 suggests a low stress level, 26-50 suggests a moderate stress level and 51-75 and 76-100 indicates high and extremely high stress levels respectively. This function will enable you to monitor your daily stress levels.