Is daily exercise useful in protecting your mental health? (Istockphoto)

Studies show that daily exercise helps deal with anxiety, stress and even depression. Lounge speaks to experts to find out.

Death, despair and isolation haunts India as covid-19 is ripping through the country. At a time like this, our focus should not only be on staying safe and reducing the chances of infection but also on protecting our mental health. But is it possible to do so by exercising?

That’s exactly what’s on Tanya Rocque’s mind as she squeezes in a workout every day in between her work-from-home routine in Goa. The 28-year-old lead for community engagement and partnerships at Basis, a financial services and community for women, mixes up MMA, HIIT and aerial yoga through the week in her attempt to “stay sane”, as she puts it, through this period of uncertainty.“It’s the best hour of the day because I can tune off with loud music and it’s the only time where I am not scrolling through my phone and inclined to see what’s happening. Now that we are locked up inside our homes again, it is a release and it’s my own time. I try to stick to it the same time everyday and that brings about some semblance of normalcy and routine in my life these days,” Rocque says.