Abstract
Fitness and Yoga has been the focus of studies in recent decades for the not only the general well-being but also a therapeutic modality for mental stress, obesity, and other lifestyle disorders. Individual studies indicate positive effects of exercises like aerobics, walking and yoga under covid-19 lockdown conditions, suggesting that they can be used as non-pharmacological and as non-invasive interventions or as a supplement to drug therapy for the prevention and treatment of various mental and physical conditions. 120 moderately active healthy males (59) and females (61) volunteered to participate in the survey study with the aim to study the level of happiness and related variables age, body mass index, level of education and choice of physical activity of the participants. Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ) developed by psychologists Michael Argyle and Peter Hills at Oxford University was used to collect data. Results showed that there was no statistically significant difference in the choice of activity out of the three namely: aerobics, yoga and walking to stay fit and healthy. The level of happiness was found to be better for those who spent a greater number of years in school/college/university and another finding was that the level happiness was lower amongst the participants who were of more age as compared to the ones who were of lesser age. There was a significant difference in the level of happiness amongst the walkers, aerobic practitioners and yoga practitioners. It was not possible however to point out exactly the magnitude of difference between the three groups because the data was non-parametric. No gender differences were observed amongst males and females on level of happiness on activities chosen by the participants (aerobics, yoga and walking) to stay fit and healthy. Significant differences amongst the participants were observed amongst the underweight, normal weight and overweight participants
Highlights
India is a country of a large population of youth
The research hypotheses ((Ho) = null hypothesis, (H1) = alternate hypothesis)): 1) Choice of activity will be same for all the participants (Ho) 2) There will be no significant relationship between age and level of happiness (Ho) 3) There will be no significant relationship between choice of activity and level of happiness (Ho) 4) There will be no significant relationship between education level and level of happiness (Ho) 5) Alternate hypothesis (H1) will be accepted in case of rejection of Ho as above
Some studies show a correlation between obesity and depression, further depending on the severity of the obesity (Larsson et al, 2002; Onyike et al, 2003; Groessl et al, 2004).[10],[11],[12] A Kruskal-Wallis H test (Table-10 and 11) in this study showed that there was a statistically significant difference in level of happiness between the underweight, normal weight range and overweight participants
Summary
India is a country of a large population of youth. As per the World Population Prospects: The 2015 revisionPopulation Database [1], United Nations Population, in 2010, the population of people in the youth age group of 15-34 years in Asia was 33.93% of the total population and is predicted to decline to 31.54% by the end of 2020. India is a country of a large population of youth. The. Vikram Singh, Pragyendu Yaduvanshi, and Karan Singh same document says that the share of the youth population (15-34 years) in India in 2010 was 35.11% and is predicted to reduce to 34.46% by 2020 and might decline to 32.26% by 2030. Lifestyle disorders are the two major causes of concern in developed countries and in developing nations like India. Different online and offline means and methods are being adopted to improve and activate people's lifestyles. They include yoga, exercises, massage, stretching exercises, treadmill walking, etc. It can be wisely applied to improve happiness levels thereby promoting quality of life. Research is needed to understand yoga's action mechanism in improving happiness and its other psycho-physiological correlates
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