Chennai has its fitness scores decreased to 6.02 in 2019, compared to 6.2 in 2017 and becomes the third lowest city in the country, according to a latest survey. Tracing the journey of fitness over the past two years, Reebok conducted the second edition of Fit India Survey. Tapping the growing community of ‘FitGen’, the survey mapped the fitness habits of the over 2,200 consumers across nine cities in India – Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Pune and Ahmedabad – in the age group of 18–35 years.
Number of activities, number of weekly hours of workout and nutritional awareness of the meals the respondents take are the factors weighted against specific multipliers to evaluate the fit score – which determines the fitness quotient of a geography. In this, Chennai has scored only 6.02. YouTube is the most preferred source of fitness knowledge and updates across cities and gender, with nearly 87 per cent of the respondents in Chennai validating it. Fitness enthusiasts from the city have their main meal home cooked (90 per cent).
With a recent survey suggesting that stress levels in India remain very high compared to other developed and emerging countries such as USA, the UK, Germany, France and Australia, the Fit India Survey claims Chennai’s fitness score is less. It is learnt that almost 82 per cent of India’s population is suffering from stress and those in the sandwich generation (aged 35-49) are most affected with around 89 per cent reporting some level of stress. The major causes of stress in the country today are work, health and finance-related issues. As stated by News Today in one of its recent editorials, while it is the duty of the government and workplaces to chalk out wellness programmes, it is also the responsibility of people to be aware of ailments, their health condition and to stay cool.