Health News: India has recently emerged from a pandemic like Covid. India is a country where almost half of the population remains ill. In 2022, only 51 percent people were found healthy. The remaining 49 percent people are sick or at risk of some disease.Â
The number of healthy people has decreased by 6 percent in 2022 as compared to 2021. The survey found that men are healthier than women. 43% men were said to be healthy, while 61% women were unhealthy.
Indore of Madhya Pradesh (64%) and Surat of Gujarat (67%) were found to be the healthiest cities. Patna of Bihar (60%), Kolkata of West Bengal (55%) and Ahmedabad of Gujarat (55%) are among the most unhealthy cities. These figures show that staying healthy in India is not easy.
GOQii India Fit Report 2023 shows how much movement people in India do every day, what diseases they have, whether they are obese, how they eat, how much water they drink, how much stress they face, their sleep. How are you, is your stomach okay?
How is India’s health?
HRA score is an easy way to know how healthy people are in India. These scores are given by the users themselves on GOQii app. In 2022, 48% people would fall into the ‘sick or at risk of becoming sick’ category. Last year this figure was 43%. 1% people fall in the ‘very high risk’ category.
In India, women are more ill than men. In 2022, 61% of women fall into the category of ‘sick’ or ‘at risk of becoming sick’. Last year this figure was 52%. Even 1.5% women are in the ‘very high risk’ category. Whereas 43% men fall in the category of ‘sick’ or ‘at risk of becoming sick’.
The most healthy and unhealthy cities
Talking about cities, Surat is the healthiest city, while Patna is the most unhealthy city. Patna (60%), Kolkata (56%), Ahmedabad, Bhopal and Chandigarh (55%) are more unhealthy than other cities. The situation in Ahmedabad has worsened. In 2022, 65% people were healthy, which reduced to 45% in 2023. The number of unhealthy people has increased to 55%. The situation has worsened in Kolkata also. Last year, 48% people were unhealthy, which has increased to 56% this year.
It is surprising that in most of the big cities where doctors are easily available, people were found to be less healthy. In Mumbai, 49% people were unhealthy in 2021, which increased to 51% in 2022. In Bengaluru, 46% people were unhealthy in 2021, which increased to 48% in 2022.
How many Indians are obese?
Body mass index (BMI) tells whether a person is healthy or needs to lose or gain weight. The average BMI in India is 21.9, which is considered normal. But some worrying things also came to light in the survey. Obesity among youth increased by 2%. 17% of adults are obese. Obesity among the elderly has already reduced by 4%.
The good thing is that children are paying more attention to their health. The number of children suffering from obesity decreased from 12% in 2021 to 9% in 2022. The number of overweight children has decreased from 25% in 2021 to 14% in 2022. At the same time, obesity has increased among the elderly, which has increased from 16% in 2021 to 19% in 2022.
Most Common Diseases
There are some diseases which occur to most people and last for a long time. These are called lifestyle diseases. These diseases increase gradually and their main reasons are wrong eating habits and lack of exercise. These diseases are- diabetes, high cholesterol in blood, high blood pressure, thyroid.
According to WHO, 80% of the deaths in the world are due to these diseases. These diseases occur more often in rich countries. According to GOQii India Fit Report, lifestyle diseases have increased in 2022. Maximum 24% people suffered from high blood pressure. In 2020, only 23% people were affected by it.
After this, 18% people were affected by high cholesterol, 17% by diabetes and 7% by thyroid. Whereas in 2020, 16% people were affected by high cholesterol, 15% by diabetes and 9% by thyroid.
Women have more stomach problems?
According to the report, in 2022, 24% men had the problem of acidity and indigestion, while 20% women had this problem. Although the problem of acidity has increased by 8% in women as compared to last year, it has reduced by 10% in men. 29% women had the problem of constipation, 26% men had this problem.
Compared to 2021, the problem of constipation and indigestion has increased slightly in both men and women. The reason for more stomach problems in women than in men is not yet clear.
How big a problem is stress?
Stress has become a big problem in India. This can trouble everyone, no matter what they do or what their age is. There can be many reasons for stress, such as work, home, lack of money, changing environment. 24% Indians felt stressed in 2022.
The good thing is that stress has reduced slightly among adults (25%) and elderly (17%). Compared to 2021, now they feel stressed only 25% of the time. Most children (55%) reported that they were stressed less than 25% of the time.
More stress has been found in women than men. Women feel stressed 27% of the time, while men only 19% of the time. Stress among women has increased by 2% in 2022 as compared to 2021.
How many people are exercising?
According to the report of GOQii, some good and some worrying things have been received regarding exercise. The good thing is that 39% people exercise 3-6 days a week. 19% people exercise all 7 days a week.
The worrying thing is that 28% people do not exercise at all. The number of people exercising has decreased among the elderly. In 2021, 44% of the elderly exercised 7 days a week, which has reduced to 26% in 2022.
There has also been a slight decline in adults. In 2021, 19% exercised 7 days a week, which decreased to 18% in 2022. However, 37% exercise 3-6 days a week, which is the same as last year. The most worrying thing is that 31% children do not exercise at all. 24% of youth exercise 7 days a week, while only 17% of children do so.
Women are more active, but more men are moving!
Interestingly, the number of women (38.98%) who are active 3-6 days a week is more than men (37.60%). But, men walk more than women. In 2022, men walked an average of 5890 steps every day, while women walked only 5620 steps.
Compared to 2021, adults have started walking more in 2022. In 2021, he walked an average of 5192 steps daily, which increased to 6128 steps in 2022. Similarly, the elderly also took an average of 5065 steps daily in 2021, which increased to 5850 steps in 2022.
Which city walks the most?
People of Mumbai walk the most, taking an average of 6155 steps daily. After this, Delhi, where people walk an average of 6085 steps every day. Whereas people of Bhubaneswar and Chennai walk the least. People in Bhubaneswar walk an average of 4793 steps every day and people in Chennai walk an average of 4961 steps every day.
People of most ages like to walk. Senior citizens (52%), adults (44%), younger adults (35%) and children (40%) prefer walking. But the youth is a little different. Of these, 25% like running, while 17% like walking.
How much water do Indians drink?
It is very important to drink the right amount of water daily. It is best to drink 2 to 4 liters of water a day. According to the report, elderly people (57%) and children (42%) have increased their drinking of water. Now these people drink 2-4 liters of water daily. These people have started drinking more water than in 2020. On an average people drank 2.13 liters of water in 2020, this increased to 2.19 liters in 2021. In 2022 it will further increase to 2.61 litres.
However, the habit of drinking water has decreased slightly among adults. In 2021, 56% of adults drank 2-4 liters of water daily, which decreased to 52% in 2022. The habit of drinking water has also decreased among the youth. In 2022, only 49% youth drink 2-4 liters of water daily.
Good sleep is the foundation of a healthy life!
In a research conducted on more than one lakh people, it was found that people are sleeping better than before. 78% people sleep 6-8 hours every day. Only 9% people sleep less than 6 hours every day. Talking about people of different ages, adults and elderly people are sleeping well. 77% of these people sleep 6-8 hours every day.
Youngsters sleep a little less. 73% of youth are able to sleep only for 6-8 hours. Teenagers sleep the least. Only 68% of teenagers are able to sleep for 6-8 hours. In this survey it was also seen that 77% women and 76% men sleep for 6-8 hours.
74% of the people of India are not able to eat healthy food
The United Nations organization FAO has released a report in which it has been said that in 2021, more than 74% of the people of India were not able to buy nutritious food. Meaning, these people do not earn enough money to eat good and healthy food.
This is not the case only in India. This situation is even worse in Pakistan, where about 82% of the population is unable to eat healthy food. 66% of the people in Bangladesh also have this problem. The report also warns that if food prices continue to rise and people’s income does not increase, then healthy food will become out of reach for an even larger number of people. These are the figures for 2021. In 2020, this number in India was slightly higher at 76%, which means the situation has improved slightly.
