BHUBANESWAR: More than half of the population of the State Capital is physically inactive, says the latest study. So poor is the physical activity pattern among the City residents that 59.2 per cent of the population say they do not exercise.
As per the study conducted by the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital, this percentage of the population does not show any intention of being more active in the future. Only one-third of the studied population admitted that they walk for 10 minutes or more.
Moreover, while yoga has become the world’s best fitness regime and is making people stretch, twist and turn across the globe, only 16 per cent of the residents practise the ancient discipline. The City has a population of over 10 lakh.
The study was conducted to ascertain the status of the urban community in terms of physical activity and the outcome of the Government interventions surrounding it. It tried to ascertain the prevalence of yoga as a physical activity modality.
Prof E Venkata Rao, who headed the study, said around 10 per cent of the people who were interviewed admitted that they suffered from Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) like diabetes, high blood pressure or cardiovascular disease.
“People in randomly selected 30 Wards of the City were surveyed and only 16 per cent were found to be practising yoga and most of them were inspired by watching it on television,” he said.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO), physical inactivity was one of the major risk factors for the rapidly escalating NCDs with an increase in healthcare costs. These diseases account for more than 36 million deaths globally every year and affect countries like India with large low and middle-income groups as the victims.
Nearly 50 per cent of the deaths in India are due to NCDs though these diseases are largely preventable if the risk factors are reined in. Physical activity is an important factor for prevention of NCDs. “Physical inactivity is found to be the fourth leading cause of global mortality and among the top 10 leading causes of death and disability. The urban community is considered more physically inactive than its rural counterpart,” Prof Rao said.
In order to keep these diseases at bay, every individual must try to perform at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise in a week with not more than two successive days of exercise holiday, he said.
The study, carried out by the Community Medicine department of IMS and SUM Hospital was funded by Odisha Mining Corporation, a Gold category public sector undertaking of the State Government.
Worrying stats
59.2 per cent of the population say they are not physically active
Only one-third admit that they walk for 10 minutes or more
Bhubaneswar has a population of over 10 lakh
Study conducted by Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital