Whether you enjoy exercise, meditation, watching TV or reading, there are several ways to stay happy and healthy while social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Look to the list below for budget-friendly ways to stay sane while you and the family are stuck at home.
Sweat
Planet Fitness streams a series of free workout classes live on Facebook, everyday at 7 p.m. EST. No equipment is needed and all classes will be 20 minutes or less. Additional workouts are available on the Planet Fitness app for iOS, and are also free to members and non-members alike.
Cost: Free
Stretch
Chattanooga's Southern Soul Yoga offers daily on-demand classes, from relaxing yin-yasa to "power hour." If you can't make the live class, a recording will also be posted. Through April 30, the studio is offering free memberships to all.
Cost: Free (through April 30)
Stay entertained
There are tons of free entertainment opportunities now available online. Here are a few:
- Tennessee Aquarium and the North Georgia Zoo are hosting daily Facebook Live events on their Facebook pages at 1 p.m. EST.
- Scribd, an audiobook subscription service, now offers a free 30-day trial with no credit card requirement.
- JSTOR, an academic resource for college students, has made its entire library accessible to the public. No academic credentials are needed.
- Crackle TV, owned by Sony Pictures, streams all free content, including TV shows, movies and original programming, rotated on a monthly basis.
Connect
Focused on fitness and community, Fit4Mom Chattanooga hosts weekly Zoom workout classes and kids playgroups. Classes include postpartum workouts, barre classes, guided meditations and more. Plus, it offers weekly online happy hours for moms, all offered at a discounted monthly membership rate.
Cost: First class is free; memberships are $39.99/ month (non-discounted memberships range from $59.99-79.99/month)
Breath deep
Headspace, a popular mindfulness and meditation app, now offers one of its collections, called "Weathering the Storm," free to all. The collection includes meditation, sleep and movement exercises. Through the end of this year, however, all of its collections will be available for free to US healthcare professionals.
Cost: Access to select collections is free; access to all collections is $12.99/month, or free to US healthcare professionals