With the state of the pandemic, finding a winner for this competition might be difficult!
The daily routine of waking up and being locked indoors has definitely been playing games with our sanity. Forget being relaxed, just getting up every day seems like a chore. However, it seems like this competition in South Korea is bent on bringing out the inner zen within you!
Annually in South Korea, a relaxing competition or more aptly, a “do-nothing’ competition is held in the “healing forests” in the southern island of Jeju. The woodlands are known as a site for other therapeutic programmes too, reported The Independent.
The premise of the game is extremely simple, zone out for 90 whole minutes and the winner will be determined by the person who has the lowest and most stable heart rate. The game is called Space Out and was created by South Korean artist Woopsyang in 2014 as a retaliation against South Korea’s high-paced society.
“The pandemic-hit world needs Space Out more than ever. We have a lot of downtime at our homes but we spend that time stressing over the virus and feeling anxious.”
The competition was held online in 2020 due to the pandemic but made an in-person return in 2021. According to The Washington Post, experts have said that the pandemic pressures can put the body and mind into a virtual “survival mode.”
Shin Dong-won, a clinical psychiatrist at Seoul’s Kangbuk Samsung Hospital said during these unusual times, the brain needs mental rest to break free of the self-perpetuating cycle of anxiety.
How do you think you will do in this competition? Let us know in the comments section!
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