Why Indians don't like to excercise?

Are you one of the 25-30 million urban Indian professionals, between 25 and 40 years, living in a metro city? Chances are that you have some disposable income, you have already ticked off a few things on your bucket list, and you usually can get yourself what you want. Except time.

Your core needs probably include the needs to feel connected, to introduce work-life balance, and to nurture your health and self. In fact, nurturing good health has never before been such a priority. We are up to speed on recent research, we obsess about beer yoga and kale chips, we buy health insurance and prescription drugs with distressing regularity. And yet, we do not have enough time to get healthy!

The irony of modern living

A recent study shows that less than 10% of Indians engage in recreational physical activities. Look around. How many of us go to the gym or a yoga studio regularly? If only we were not battling the diabetes and obesity epidemic in India. If only cardiovascular diseases were not the leading cause of mortality here.

Data from a straw poll we did reveals that 88% of people check their social media feeds first thing in the morning. 88% make it a priority to finish work as soon as they can in the evening so that they can get out of office. Fitness figures nowhere. All of them do
believe that exercise is good for health. Yet, they lack time.

Why can’t we exercise enough?

For one, the work environment is inhibitive. We work long, unconventional hours; our commutes shaves year off our lives. Most people polled cited erratic work hours and lack of time as the primary reasons hindering daily physical activity.
But we cannot walk away from jobs. We have to pay bills, we want to feel that high of professional achievements, we need to prove our mettle. We embrace a frenetic pace of life because we have to, and also, because we want to. But we cannot turn a blind eye to the risks of lifestyle diseases. How do we find time?

Get real!

We can read up listicles on office exercise. But we cannot walk into a client meeting, sweaty and tired from a power workout or yoga training. How many of us have the kind of motivation it takes to shut the world out and meditate in an open plan office, ignoring deadlines? At the end of the day, when all we want to do is go home, the swanky yoga studio at the bottom of your office building loses its sheen. Work and working out are not really compatible. Let’s face it. We need lateral thinking instead.

Your milieu matters

Any regular physical activity requires cancelling other commitments or extending the day; it competes with social and personal responsibilities. It is not easy for others to empathise. In our poll, every single person who reported to be regular with their fitness regime cited close friends and family with similar commitment to physical exercise. And each person who does not work out reported that their close friends and immediate family do not exercise.

What our friends and family think and do matter. Is a family dinner a battlefield of counting calories versus a coaxing grandmother? Have you ever found courage to tell your significant other that you are going to skip a date because it is legs day?

Incentives can help

The Indian society must create an environment of incentivising active people. Incentives work well in India. Take online shopping. It was thought that nobody will shop online without the touch and feel; but discounts and cash back ended up changing that behaviour.
Can organisations give an extra day’s ‘unsick’ leave to people who have not taken a sick leave in a quarter? Can health insurance providers give a discount based on the miles ran or the hours of yoga activity logged in? Cigna is one international provider that does so!

Don’t be impulsive

Most of us get spooked and go on a fitness overdrive impulsively. We think that the hefty gym membership will keep us going. The unreal promise of a sculpted body in a few weeks lures us in. The benefits of working out go deeper than just a super-hot body, which actually takes a long time to craft. It depends on nutrition, sleep, and other health and wellness habits.

Also, most gyms will not keep you motivated for the long haul. Such establishments make money out of drop-outs. Can you build a sustainable, healthy lifestyle instead?

What motivates you?

People resist things they feel coerced into completing. Sure, we can starve ourselves for a while, or pay homage to the elliptical machine for a few weeks. But eventually we give up if it’s not fun. For a behavioural change, you need to enjoy what you do. To date, the burgeoning fitness industry has relied too heavily upon game-like incentives to motivate behaviour — but games invariably come to an end. The novelty wears off. The next generation of health and wellness service providers must focus on helping users enjoy the activity itself.

Weed out the constraints

The average person, looking to be more active, takes on a large cognitive load. We need to find a yoga studio or a gym, get details about the yoga training or workout regimes, find a like-minded group.... There are days when it’s raining, when we’ve overslept, or had a long day at work. If only it were as simple as praying, and we just needed to find time and a space
at home or outside. Simplicity and anytime, anywhere, Simplicity, and the anytime-anywhere model is what new, efficient fitness service providers should aim for. A healthy body is a combination of mind, body, and food. We need a frictionless system that encourages people to indulge in different forms of physical activity, anytime, anywhere, with built-in extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. Of course, that leaves us with the problems associated with healthy eating. But that’s a matter to be taken up another day.