Trending streaks, Bed rotting, cozy cardio

We live in a digital, social media, connected world in which we’ve encountered the statement,  something or someone is trending. Join me on this podcast to hear more about trends like bed rotting, cozy cardio, silent walking and the pros and cons including practicing mindfulness as a core component of the Maverick formula. 

Transcript

Episode 116: Trending streaks, Bed rotting, cozy cardio

Hello Everyone, and welcome to the podcast of the Ordinary Maverick. This is Ajey, your host, an ordinary Maverick sharing real life thoughts and experiences and Maverick tips. If you haven’t hit the subscribe button yet, please do so, and you’ll not miss another episode.

Hashtag, Happy new year, hashtag, NYE 2024, Hashtag, new beginnings; hash tag aka trending….am sure we are familiar or soon getting familiar with the hash sign. It is used on social media and applications like twitter, Instagram to identify digital content on a specific topic. And in today’s digital, social media world, this is crucially important. A thing is really a thing these days when it has its own hashtag. And when a hashtag starts accelerating in popularity, meaning being more and more used…one can say it’s trending. It’s growth is like a hockey stick…a curve that rises quickly. 

You know as I was thinking about the new year and new beginnings, and how we need to set forth new trends, adopt those that work and give up those that don’t, I stumbled across some interesting popular trends. Now just as in any behaviour, you have the early adopters in the community that start following and adopting these trends and then there are the trend setters, the influencers. 

Mavericks, if you’re wondering but how does one understand trends, where would you look? Well…if you’re not familiar, the website, Google trends gives you a ton of information. It allows you to see the topics that people are looking at or not looking at in real time. And you can understand the trends in data and what’s the general level of interest in basically anything from the weather, to a type of food, to a sport, an event, a social issue, even a political candidate and by geography too.

And this is done by clustering the information gathered from the Google search engine, google news as well as you tube. So anytime you’re using any of these platforms, remember you are adding to the trend statistic. Fascinating, right?

Well, I came across this trend of ‘Bed rotting’. It’s a new trend…sweeping a popular site, Tik Tok. And it involves staying in bed for extended periods of time – not to sleep, but to do passive activities. So this is deliberating staying in bed…or rather, ‘rotting’ in bed. The trend started on TikTok as a ‘self care’ trend. And people started spending the entire day in bed, even entire weekends in bed…doing everything from napping, doom scrolling, watching TV, eating…if you’re wondering what doom scrolling is…check out my earlier episode on it. 

Now, some of us may say, this is resting. You know,,,we’ve all done it. After an illness, a hangover, general exhaustion…we’ve just spent the day in bed and said we’re resting. But there’s some rebranding here…and TikTok users are calling it bed rotting. It seems that this word now has a total of close to 33 million posts on Tik Tok! So yes, it’s quite the trend!

There’s a bit of a debate too….while some feel that yes, it’s a good thing to take some time off and just spend the day in bed…you know…take a break. And that’s if done occasionally…nothing wrong with that. But and here’s the but…it can be a problem, if it’s done longer  and if it’s done to avoid things….could be unhealthy, and detrimental to mental well being. In depression, bed rotting can be  way of withdrawing from others, not having social connections, avoiding what makes you anxious and that’s not good.

Then there’s the bigger problem of disrupting sleep. The entire sleep cycle goes for a toss. Experts say that when you eat in bed and do other activities like using your phone for a long time in bed, it can confuse your brain and lead to problems with initiating or maintaining sleep and your brain struggles to shut down when you want to sleep. 

Amidst the problems, there’s a lot of talk about the benefits as well. In today’s crazy, fast paced world, it’s good to take a day off to rest one’s body and mind. 

I will leave you to determine whether the bed rotting trend is for you or not but with a Maverick spirit, I must say that it’s absolutely essential to find a way to stop, to reenergize and to recharge one’s batteries. I’ve spoken about this before too…but hey, whatever helps you accomplish that, go for it. And then if it’s bed rotting, so be it!

And then there’s cozy cardio. Yes, you heard it right….cozy cardio.. Now I know, I know…cardio generally brings, tough, workout, sculpt, stamina, words like that to your mind and all those are far from being cozy. But this is another fitness trend taking over social media. Cozy cardio is an at home trend that prioritizes comfort over intensity, vibes over weights and self care over buckets of sweat. It recognizes that not all of us like going for group fitness classes, marathon runs etc and perhaps cozy cardio is more appealing. 

So what is cozy cardio? It’s basically any lower impact, low intensity at home exercise that feels gentle to the person performing it. The word was coined by Hope Zuckerbrow in 2022 who is the founder of the cozy cardio club. The idea is to get your heart rate up in a way that feels good, and not dreadful to the person doing it. So, it’s getting personal, it’s about putting your own physical and atmospheric preferences. It can be you in your warm, cozy robe, with your favorite music playing, in an at home yoga flow, or on your at home bike. One big aim is to help people reclaim their relationship to exercise. You know how challenging it can be for someone to join a gym, cope with all the pressures etc…and all of this can put you off exercise totally! Well, cozy cardio is about having joy while exercising and doing it your way and at home. Because of societal pressures of looks, many people struggle to get to the gym…cozy cardio takes care of that. 

There’s been some interesting research around this, and cozy cardio increases serotonin and dopamine levels which are happiness hormones. And when you’re happy, you start doing it more plus doing other things that make you feel good…all in all, a great effect and impact. Mostly, people do low impact exercises while practicing cozy cardio, like walking, yoga, dancing, stationary biking and this helps overall fitness plus puts less stress on muscles and joints. 

Hmmm, interesting trend, right, fellow Mavericks….the start of a new year, signals an urge to try something new which I am sure by now must have died its natural death…thus both bed rotting and cozy cardio are trends that particularly caught my attention. And a third one to share before I end, is silent walking. It’s another latest viral workout trend with some intriguing benefits. It has its roots in Buddhism and a common mindfulness practice. Silent walking combines the health benefits of nature, exercise and meditation that helps to center and calm oneself.

It's a recent trend on TikTok but in actuality it’s an ancient practice. Zen Buddhist monks practiced silent walking and called it walking meditation. It’s all about clearing one’s mind and going for a walk alone, free of distractions…so its exercise that also links to personal meditation. A great way to disconnect from all of the noise and chaos that’s part of the world today. What’s important is that it’s just you….no phone, no walking buddy, no pets. Focus on feelings, breathing and the surrounding beauty..being mindful of each breath and each step, listening to the sounds of nature, gratitude for the sun on your skin and using the time for reflection. It’s shown to reduce stress, increase energy and resilience and bring about a deeper connection to oneself plus lower blood pressure and heart rate.

I couldn’t agree more with the mindfulness bit. That’s a core part of our Maverick formula as you know and as I have spoken earlier. And  the base from where everything else begins and stems from. 

Kickstart the new year with trying out these trends…what say? Well, here’s a challenge for us…I am going to try bed rotting, cozy cardio and silent walking. Although I do practice silent walking, will do it even more intentionally. And here’s the deal, let’s swap notes and experiences a few months down the line. I hope to have some fellow Mavericks to speak about their experiences with these trends and their recommendations and insights. So, send me a note if you are following and experimenting with any of these trends. 

Once again, Fellow Mavericks, my very best. Let’s keep trending, hash tag, the ordinary maverick, hash tag enjoy life’s journey. Remember, the journey counts more than the destination!

Do share your thoughts at ‘theordinarymaverick@gmail.com’ and follow me on Instagram #theordinarymaverick.  I love hearing from you. This is Ajey, signing off and wishing you have an amazing rest of the year and kickstart the new year doing what makes you happy! Keep well. 

This podcast series was put together as a team effort from the Bhardwaj family.  Concept, design, title, researchers and reviewers: Ajey, Sanjana, Avantika and Niharika Bhardwaj; Script– Sanjana; Cover design – Niharika. All rights reserved.