According to a new survey conducted by OnePoll and commissioned by the health and fitness app Verv, three in five Americans have transformed from “indoor people” to “outdoor people” during the pandemic. The research fielded responses from 2,000 people over the age of 21, and suggested that the average person went outside for around 5 hours per week last year — an increase of 22 minutes a week.
In total, that would mean the average respondent spent 260 hours, or 10 whole days outdoors in 2020.
The survey showed that the top reason people began going outside more often was to get away from the people they’ve been stuck indoors with during the pandemic.
Respondents who identified as an indoor person at the outset of the pandemic were more likely to be a morning person, and 71% claimed their lives were “mostly perfect.” But 68% of those indoor people were also hesitant to try new things out of fear of failure.
“Recent scientific reports have found that spending just 120 minutes per week in nature can decrease inflammation, boost activity in infection-fighting white blood cells, and lower blood pressure,” Luba Pashkovaskaya, CEO of Verv, told PEOPLE.
It’s a fact that indoor people seem to have discovered on their own. Those respondents now prefer walking (51%), running (47%), and biking (42%) outdoors over indoor activities like yoga and pilates.
