REPORT OF UGC ACTIVITY – FIT INDIA PROGRAM

Based on the UGC directives, as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav-Fit India freedom Run 2.0, the Sports Committee of Manipal College of Nursing (MCON), Manipal had organised a session on '30 minutes' walk as part of life for the 3rd year BSc Nursing students of MCON on 14th August 2021 between 3 pm & 3.40 pm through Microsoft Teams online Platform.

Dr Deepak Ram Bairy, Deputy Director of Physical Education, KMC, MAHE, Manipal was the Resource Person for the session. Dr Melita Sheilini, Sports Advisor, MCON, MAHE, Manipal welcomed and introduced the speaker to the participants.

Deliberating on the significance of 30 minutes' walk, Dr Deepak said, 30 minutes walk is a booster for fit health. He also emphasized on average steps required per day based on age, gender, occupation and location. Stressing on the impact of daily 30 minutes’ walk on the body systems and physiology, Dr Deepak unveiled the fact of the influence of regular walk in preventing glaucoma. Highlighting the key points, he gave few tips to improve daily steps. He urged the students to take a firm decision for their daily walk and stick to that.

He said, either walking for a duration or walking to a distance are two important points to be considered while making a decision to practice daily walk. Further, Dr Deepak stressing on few important facts of walking said, walking in an enjoyable nature around us will stimulate our thinking and also it will help students to spend few additional hours in their studies and hence boost up their academic activities. Overall, the joy we get from walking will be an inspiration for the next day.

Walking will not be complete without a nutritional diet, so importance to be given to a nutritional diet as well along with a daily walk. He concluded the session giving few safety measures to be observed while walking i.e. wearing properly fitting and well-supporting walking shoes, comfortable clothes, being mindful while walking on highways in the morning hours, safeguarding dry skin and sunburn by applying sunscreen lotions and most importantly walking in the areas designated for the pedestrians.

Overall, the session was very interesting and made each one of us think positively and remember the simple self-help measures which we can take in order to remain healthy. A total of 150 participants including students, faculty and non-teaching staff of MCON attended the session and it was concluded with the words of gratitude expressed by Dr Melita