Even as the World Yoga Day is celebrated on June 21 and despite the worldwide focus on yoga for its potential to prevent non-communicable diseases, it has yet to find wide acceptance among the urban population, a recent study has revealed.
A mere 17 per cent of people in Bhubaneswar practise either ‘asana’ or ‘pranayama’ or ‘dhyana’ while only 10.7 per cent of the city’s population practise all the yoga techniques, the study on the Epidemiology of Yoga among the Urban Population conducted by the Community Medicine Department of the Institute of Medical Sciences here said.
The study was conducted with a sample size of a little over 1,200 people in Bhubaneswar, now ranked among the top four Livable Capital Cities of the country, by three researchers Dr Satyajit Mohanty, Dr Sandeep Kumar Panigrahi and Dr Jyotiranjan Sahoo.
“Interestingly, participation of women in yoga in the city was more compared to men and it was found that the level of education had a role in people wanting to accept and practise yoga,” Prof E Venkata Rao of the Department of Community Medicine said.
Stating that this was the second study on people’s acceptance of yoga as a needed physical activity, Prof Rao said it is prompted by an earlier study, the findings of which said only 5.3 per cent of the urban population in eastern India practise yoga. The study’s findings also said that family bread winners or people belonging to higher socioeconomic strata are less likely to participate in yoga, but those who practise it are physically active and are eager to take part in other forms of physical activity. It also found that 49 per cent of the physicians in Bhubaneswar prescribe yoga to their patients as a physical activity.
The study said the concept of yoga originated in India in the post-Vedic era (3000 BC). Yoga has been included as an alternative to physical activity in the recently published guidelines under the ‘Fit India’ programme, in which it has been recommended for all age groups.
While recommending spread of the practice of yoga across Odisha for better impact in controlling non-communicable diseases, the study said the Covid-19 pandemic has left everyone rattled and there is a requirement to deal with the post-Covid scenario. “The post-Covid chronic sequels can be ameliorated by yoga and, hence, the need for its spread,” it said. Among the eight yoga techniques, ‘asana’ (yogic postures), ‘pranayama’ (breath control) and ‘dhyana’ (meditation) are practised most, but inappropriately on many instances, ‘asana’ is interchangeably used with the term yoga, the study said, adding that each of the eight steps has profound biological impact on the human body and mind.
Yoga is being increasingly recognised as a medical therapy for several conditions involving non-communicable diseases like high blood pressure, high blood sugar, several lung conditions, joint conditions as osteoarthritis, low back pain and mental disorders like anxiety and depression.
Any exercise or physical activity with isocaloric energy expenditure value equivalent to the World Health Organisation (WHO)-recommended 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity can prevent non-communicable diseases in all population and yoga offered a superior option than all other forms of physical activity or exercise, the study said.