On the 6th of June, National Gardening exercise day is celebrated to promote gardening as a form of exercise. Celebrated in various parts of the United States of America, it aims to highlight the benefits of this simple activity.
According to a research done by the World Health Organisation (WHO) , India is heading towards a staggering 79,441,000 diabetes patients in 2030. The same can be said about obesity in the country. This report puts India in top 5 worldwide in number of obese people.
All these problems boil down to two main reasons. Firstly, consumption of unhealthy food or lack of knowledge about nutrient value of food. And Secondly lack of exercise or physical activity. The solution lies in making healthy food and working out popular, specially in the children and youth.
One of the activities that combine both of them is farming. Since large scale farming is not feasible in most places in India, gardening or micro level cultivation can be an answer. Small scale cultivation means production of a minor amount of your daily consumption, yourself.
Creating an event similar to National Gardening Exercise Day will have the following benefits :
- Healthy Home Grown Organic Food : At least a small amount of your daily consumption will be totally healthy. Once you try to create something of your own, the dependency on junk food automatically decreases.
- Daily Workout : Gardening or farming is not a once a week errand. It needs daily effort. So its cardio, lifting weights, doing squats and that too in an oxygen rich atmosphere.
- Improve Mental Health : Being happy is one of the best ways to boast mental health. And seeing your plants grow and bear fruit, is nothing short of that.
- Positive Contribution to Nature : Even the tiniest of plants help in converting Carbon dioxide to breathable oxygen. They also have a significant positive contribution to decreasing pollution.
- Reduce Food Wastage : Only when one starts growing their own food, they understand how hard it is. Then only people will stop wasting food.
Here is a small video about how easy it is to grow vegetables at home.
Based on these benefits, we urge people to grow at least a tiny part of their diet at home. It may be some simple vegetable or fruits or even herbs. Even without a dedicated National Gardening Exercise Day, we Indians can definitely work something out.
