People adopt their own favorite activities in order to cope with stress and emotions. Choice of physical activity depends upon several factors like availability, socio-economic status, individual differences etc. The present study aims to evaluate the effect of activity type on perceived stress among a sample of subjects going through a transition period from unemployment to work during Covid-19 lockdown period. 96 participants, all males in the age group of 30 to 36 years (Mean age 32.82±1.91) were enrolled in this randomized controlled study (RCT), voluntarily. The three types of activity interventions, asana group (45 minutes-3 weeks), aerobics group (45 –minutes-3 weeks) and pranayama meditation (45 minutes-3 weeks) were compared on perceived stress score (PSS) to find out the impact of activity on their PSS scores. The non-parametric test, Kruskal-Wallis test provided very strong evidence of a difference (p < 0.05) between the mean ranks of at least one pair of groups. Dunn’s pair wise tests gave a strong evidence (p < 0.05) of a difference between the group who practiced pranayama meditation and the group which did only the asana. No significant differences in mean ranks of asana and aerobics group, and the aerobics and pranayama meditation groups. Post pranayama meditation group displayed the lowest percentage of participants who fell in the low perceived stress range.

perceived stress scale, type of activity, aerobics, asana, meditation