A LifeOmic survey sampling close to 2,300 LIFE apps users all around the United States examined how the coronavirus pandemic has affected their habits around food, exercise, sleep, mediation, and personal relationships.
Close to half of those who used to try new recipes no more than once a year are now dusting off the cookbooks more often and adding to their meal repertoire— 29% of them are trying new recipes at least weekly.

Before the virus, 23% of respondents were working out daily at home, but this proportion increased to 40% after the pandemic hit. Being at home had an effect on those who used to exercise only rarely— 27% of them are now getting off the couch and getting their heart rates up everyday.
Exercise and trying new recipes were not the only things respondents were doing more of in response to being stuck at home. 13% of those who had never practiced meditation before the virus, turned to mindfulness for stress management during the pandemic.
Consistent with social isolation, the percentage of respondents who were able to see friends and family everyday dropped from 51% before the virus to 42.5%. People who never connected with friends and/or family doubled from 4.4% to 8.9%. However, the percentage of people making the effort to connect with their loved ones at least weekly grew from 34.3% to 42%.
When asked to rank several activities in terms of what respondents valued the most, connecting with friends and/or family was ranked highest by 36.5% of them, followed by sleeping (19.7%), at- home workouts (18.5%), at-home meditation (14.4%) and trying new recipes (10.9%).

Of the 2258 participants, 1968 were women and 290 were men.
Related Posts
Luisa Torres, PhD
I'm a science communications manager at LifeOmic and the editor of this blog. I am a neuroscientist and science writer interested in covering topics related to aging, metabolism, and brain health. I have written for NPR's blogs 'Shots', 'Goats and Soda', and 'The Salt'.