The UK’s most Zen Cities
Coronavirus has brought about a change of life for us all, a change that has people feeling increasingly worried, lonely, anxious and stressed. It’s important to remember that this is okay. We are entitled to our feelings and in this unprecedented time, it is key to recognise that we all react differently and that these difficult feelings will pass.
Taking time to improve your mental health whilst at home will help you think clearly and give you the tools to help you look after yourself and others. So as a nation focusing on our health and wellbeing, which cities are doing this best?
We’ve created the UK’s city zen scale, looking at five zen factors across the UK’s biggest cities and their google search impressions to find out where in the UK is dealing with lockdown stress the best. The factors include:
- Interest in home workout videos
- Searches for at home yoga
- Google data on home spa treatments
- Interest in at home meditation
- Searches for skincare routines
Out of 100, we ranked each city based on these factors and their population, before totalling up their scores to reveal the overall ranking of the UK's most zen city.
|
Overall Rank 🏅 |
City Name |
Home workouts 🏋️ |
At Home Yoga 🧘 |
Home Spa Treatments 🛀 |
At Home Meditation 🙏 |
Skincare Routine 🧖 |
Overall Score 🏆 |
|
1 |
Manchester |
14 |
14 |
13 |
15 |
15 |
71 |
|
2 |
Newcastle |
15 |
15 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
66 |
|
3 |
Liverpool |
10 |
1 |
15 |
13 |
14 |
53 |
|
4 |
Southampton |
13 |
1 |
12 |
14 |
9 |
49 |
|
5 |
Norwich |
12 |
1 |
14 |
11 |
11 |
49 |
|
6 |
Bristol |
9 |
1 |
9 |
10 |
10 |
39 |
|
7 |
Glasgow |
8 |
1 |
8 |
8 |
12 |
37 |
|
8 |
Nottingham |
11 |
1 |
10 |
6 |
8 |
36 |
|
9 |
Leeds |
4 |
13 |
5 |
3 |
5 |
30 |
|
10 |
Birmingham |
7 |
1 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
29 |
|
11 |
London |
2 |
12 |
3 |
9 |
2 |
28 |
|
12 |
Sheffield |
5 |
1 |
6 |
2 |
4 |
18 |
|
13 |
Belfast |
3 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
6 |
18 |
|
14 |
Edinburgh |
6 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
3 |
16 |
|
15 |
Cardiff |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
Manchester is the most zen city in the UK
Manchester, the metropolis of the north topped the UK zen scale, coming first with an overall score of 71. Thanks to high scores across the board, it’s the city where people are searching for the best ways to look after themselves at home, with at home meditation and skincare as the city’s top priority with scores of 15. Manchester’s inhabitants clearly want to clear their minds as much as their skin.
Interestingly, Newcastle comes in second place with an overall score of 66. They focus more on workouts, yoga and moving the body to reduce their unease. Whereas third place Liverpool is all about the pamper with home spa treatments.
Top 5 Most Zen Cities
|
Overall Rank 🏅 |
City Name 📍 |
Home workouts 🏋️ |
At Home Yoga 🧘 |
Home Spa Treatments 🛀 |
At Home Meditation 🙏 |
Skincare Routine 🧖 |
Overall Score 🏆 |
|
1 |
Manchester |
14 |
14 |
13 |
15 |
15 |
71 |
|
2 |
Newcastle |
15 |
15 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
66 |
|
3 |
Liverpool |
10 |
1 |
15 |
13 |
14 |
53 |
|
4 |
Southampton |
13 |
1 |
12 |
14 |
9 |
49 |
|
5 |
Norwich |
12 |
1 |
14 |
11 |
11 |
49 |
Home workouts are a top priority in Newcastle
As the second most zen city in the UK, Newcastle residents are stepping up their fitness levels to maintain their life balance. With the highest at-home workout rating at 15, the people of Newcastle are using physical activity to relieve stress, improve mood and help aid better sleep. Followed closely by Manchester and Southampton who are also searching to see how they can get their hearts racing and their muscles pumping to keep their minds and bodies happy and healthy.
Top 5 Cities for Home Workouts
|
City 📍 |
Home Workouts Score🏋️ |
|
Newcastle |
15 |
|
Manchester |
14 |
|
Southampton |
13 |
|
Norwich |
12 |
|
Nottingham |
11 |
Meditate in the most mindful cities
Meditation is known for reducing stress and anxiety, while improving clarity, productivity and compassion. The city topping the zen scale for this is Manchester with the highest rating of 15. The practise of using the mind to focus on and acknowledge thoughts and feelings without judgement allows you to become mentally and emotionally calm. This continued practice will help you develop skills to aid yourself and others through difficult times, with the cities of Southampton and Liverpool seeing home meditation as a priority too.
Top 5 Cities for At Home Meditation
|
City 📍 |
At Home Meditation Score🙏 |
|
Manchester |
15 |
|
Southampton |
14 |
|
Liverpool |
13 |
|
Newcastle |
12 |
|
Norwich |
11 |
Namaste in Newcastle - the top cities for at home yoga
Yoga is known to promote physical and mental wellbeing, focusing on strength, breathing and flexibility. With its adaptability to small spaces, yoga is the perfect way to work on yourself without disturbing neighbours with any loud cardio. It’s ideal for apartment living. Newcastle is the top city for residents seeking at home yoga with the highest rating of 15, followed by fellow northern cities Manchester and Leeds.
Top 5 Cities for At Home Yoga
|
City 📍 |
At Home Yoga Score🧘 |
|
Newcastle |
15 |
|
Manchester |
14 |
|
Leeds |
13 |
|
London |
12 |
|
Liverpool |
11 |
All about self-care skincare in Manchester
When it comes to focusing on yourself, it isn’t always about physical movement. Taking the time for some self-care by focusing on treating yourself can improve your wellbeing too. From doing a facemask to embracing a creative activity or cooking a meal from scratch - it all adds up to your mental health.
When it comes to skincare, Manchester comes up top as the city looking to improve their routine and embrace those at home spa vibes. From mud masks and the best at home facials, they’re using this time to develop new skincare habits that really work and will leave them glowing!
If you fancy indulging yourself at home too, check out our how to home spa guide here.
Top 5 Cities for Skincare Routines
|
City 📍 |
Skincare Routine Score🧖 |
|
Manchester |
15 |
|
Liverpool |
14 |
|
Newcastle |
13 |
|
Glasgow |
12 |
|
Norwich |
11 |
The Scousers top the charts for Home Spa treatments
Liverpool comes in first place for people aiming to create a relaxing and peaceful home spa experience. Lighting candles, burning incense sticks and running a luxurious hot bubble bath are great ways to start. In second place is Norwich, followed by Manchester - all missing the TLC a spa day brings!
Missing the spa? Read our home massage guide here, with some handy tips on how to relieve any tension.
The Top 5 Cities for Home Spa
|
City 📍 |
Home Spa Score🛀 |
|
Liverpool |
15 |
|
Norwich |
14 |
|
Manchester |
13 |
|
Southampton |
12 |
|
Newcastle |
11 |
Spa vouchers
If the UK’s most zen cities have you itching for your next spa day, our spa vouchers could be just what you need.
SpaSeekers offers a selection of vouchers that let you tailor your spa experience. They are redeemable on a date of your choosing across all of our wonderful spas.
Methodology
We analysed 15 of the UK’s largest cities, ranking them on our UK City Zen Scale using Google Adword forecasted impression data by location for home workouts, at home yoga, home spa treatments, at home meditation and skincare routines. We analysed the data from April 22nd 2020 to 21st April 2021 then using the population of each city we worked out the search volume this gave us per term for 100,000 people. This allowed us to rank each term fairly per city and allocate a score. Each of these scores was then totalled per city to give us an overall zen score with the highest overall score giving us the city with the most zen.
Sources
ONS: Source
Google Adwords Impression Data - 22nd April 2020 -21st April 2021:
This takes historical search volume information for the year, and models this to show you how many search impressions you would get in the time period shown. An impression is counted each time an advertisement will be shown on a search results page - essentially counting how many times this keyword will be 'seen' and therefore searched by an individual user on Google.
