Anusha Subramanian, Author at GOQii

June 3, 2019 By Anusha Subramanian Leave a Comment

The Easiest & Healthiest Way to Get Active!

Ever wondered why we do what we do? Ever wondered why we get up at dawn on any given day, including Sundays? The reason is simple for many of us! It is either for running or cycling. It’s like a ritual and a moment for ourselves. If those reading this blog are into running or cycling you will connect well with what I am saying. It’s an addiction and let me tell you, a good addiction to have.

I have always been interested in history and like to delve deep into understanding how a particular concept evolved. As I was researching a bit on cycling, I came across the fact that the concept of cycling was invented by Baron Karl von Drais, a prolific German inventor way back in the year 1817. Interestingly, what he invented was not exactly the bicycle which we know and use. He invented the walking machine that helped him walk in the royal gardens faster. This device had wheels but didn’t have any gears, chains, and pedals. Also, it moved ahead by pushing his feet against the ground. With an improvement in this technology, this crude device was eventually transformed into the modern-day bicycle.

Source: Wikipedia

Riding a bicycle is a good aerobic and cardio activity. If cycling is done on a regular basis, it can deliver lots of health benefits. According to our recently launched India Fit Report 2019, a survey on how Indians fare on health parameters; cycling has increased to 15% from 10% in the previous year.

This simple form of physical exercise helps in bettering your physical and mental health. It is a low impact form of exercise that helps all ages.

Some Benefits of Riding a Bicycle

Improves cardio health by strengthening heart muscles
Lowers resting pulse rate
Reduces blood fat levels
Tones muscles and increases flexibility
Uses both upper body muscles such as chest, shoulders, arms, abs and the back as well as leg muscles such as quadriceps (front thighs), hamstrings (rear thighs), glutes, calf muscles and your hip
Better blood circulation due to flexibility brings about good joint mobility

Having talked of some of the basic health benefits a simple cycling activity can offer, it also acts as a cheap mode of transport and is environmentally friendly.

In today’s time where we are fraught with terrible environment damages and increased carbon footprint due to many vehicles on the roads, cycling is one way we personally can resort to, to be environmentally conscious. It is reported that Cycling 10 km every day can prevent the emission of at least 1.3 tonnes of greenhouses gases annually.

For beginners who want to take up cycling for regular fitness, start slow as we always say for every other athletic sports such as running. On you first day of cycling, you should not ride for more than 20 minutes. Slowly and steadily get used to the cycle as well as the body movements and then increase the intensity as you go along.

Few Things to Follow When You Take Up Cycling

Safety Measures: Safety is the first and foremost thing to adhere to while taking up cycling either for health, as a regular sport or as a mode of transport. Never ride a cycle in the outdoor without a proper cycling helmet. Helmet prevents a head injury in case of an accident.
Proper Clothing: It is important to wear well-fitting clothes. Loose clothes may get stuck during cycling and cause serious problems. Especially if you are riding in the outdoors
Be Hydrated: Always have plenty of water at hand. Drink water frequently to make up for the possible dehydration caused due to physical activity.
Stretching: Stretching your muscles is important because it warms up the body and prepares it for the intense physical activity of cycling.

Cycling is an interesting way to keep you healthy physically, mentally and environmentally.

April 16, 2019 By Anusha Subramanian 3 Comments

Why is it Difficult to Make a Lifestyle Change?

In a user story I recently wrote, the player said, “Making a lifestyle change is easy. What is difficult is the commitment to follow through with determination”. Rightly so, it’s indeed considered a tall order and hence, many give it up midway. Most consider it forced, rather than a positive change to bring about within themselves.

This very attitude and constant cribbing of people around me prompted me to write this piece on why is it so difficult to make a lifestyle change?

Many of us have tried it at some point in our lives. Some of us have succeeded, while many have found it extremely taxing. Making a lifestyle change is challenging, especially when you want to transform many things at once. Lifestyle changes are a process that takes time and requires support and lots of patience.

Here are a few tips that you could follow from my personal experience:

1. Start Small

After you’ve identified realistic short-term and long-term goals, break them into small steps that are well defined, that can be managed and measured. If your long term goal (6-8 months) is to lose 20 kilos, then a good goal would be to reduce about 2 kilos a month in a healthy way.

Physiologically smaller goals give you a sense that it’s achievable and keep you motivated for the long term goal. Look at healthy eating options. Eat smaller, balanced meals at regular intervals. Replace a dessert with a healthier option, like Yoghurt. At the end of the month, you’ll feel successful knowing you met your goal.

2. Change One Behavior at a Time

It is said that old habits die hard. It is simply because behaviors develop over the course of time. Replacing then will take a while. Focus on one goal at a time. If need be, get professional help to understand what changes you need to bring within yourself to become healthy and fit. The problem arises when you try to change things really fast. Take it slow!

3. Have a Buddy, a Personal Coach or a Trainer

It can be anyone from a friend, to a family member, a co-worker or your personal trainer. Your buddy and you can go for a walk, cycle or run together and keep each other motivated and charged. You can challenge each other to create some excitement in your training and make sure that it is not boring. Having someone with whom you can share your struggles and success makes the work easier and the mission less intimidating.

4. Make a Plan That You Will Stick To

You will have to devise a plan in such a way that it will be your guide. Think out of the box and have things in your plan which you have never done before. For instance, an adventure or sports climbing (artificial wall climbing). But, don’t go haywire and be specific. Manage time well.

Detail the time of the day when you want to exercise, how long you want to exercise or when you can take walks and how long you’ll walk. Maintain a diary in which all your tasks are jotted down and ask yourself if these activities and goals are realistic for you. If not, then start with baby steps.

5. Have Support Around You

Having people around you to support you while you are on your journey will keep you away from slacking. Don’t feel shy to ask for support wherever and whenever needed. If you feel you are unable to meet your goals on your own, get help!

6. Self-Motivation

All the above points will help you in your journey to change your lifestyle. But the biggest factor of all and one of the most important factor is being self-motivated. No matter how many buddies you have, no matter what support your dear and near ones will give you, no matter how good a plan you make, none of this will be effective till the time you are self-motivated and want to make the change.

Do it for yourself, do it on your own and feel good at the end of it all!

Making the changes that you want takes time and commitment. You can do it! Just remember that no one is perfect. You will have occasional lapses. Be kind to yourself. When you eat a brownie or skip the gym, don’t give up. Minor bumps on the road to your goals are normal and okay. Resolve to recover and get back on track.

#BeTheForce

March 12, 2019 By Anusha Subramanian 4 Comments

Catalysing Social Change through Karma

How often do we all do Charity?

Whether it is monetary or just about helping somebody out. How often have we helped someone with their studies? When was the last time we spent time playing with underprivileged kids? We seldom do it. Unless some friend actually points to a particular cause that he or she is related to. Let’s accept the fact that Philanthropy does not come to us easily. While globalization is increasingly making us aware of all the problems faced by humanity today, we aren’t doing much to bring about social change.

Everywhere around us, there is hunger, unemployment, lack of medical facilities and education. Not much has been done to eradicate poverty from every corner of this country, extend health care, provide basic education to one and all and protect our environment. Anyone who’s studied emerging markets talks about the opportunities the BoP offers. Especially in South Asia and more importantly in India. It’s a well-known fact how 70% of the population lives in rural areas and 75.6% live on less than $2 a day.

People below the poverty line all around the world are not asking for the moon or any aspiration goods and services. They are asking for basics such as infrastructure, water, energy, education, and employment to be able to live a decent and sustainable life.

Be The Change!

There may not be one resolution to all the problems. Non-profits for decades have been working for the betterment of the lives of the people at the bottom of the pyramid. But, there is only so much they can do. There is a new breed of young social entrepreneurs (Socents) who have sprung up in the last decade or so and are doing their best to bring about a social change. For instance, GreenSole, a social venture by Shreyans Bhandari and Ramesh Dhami, collects discarded shoes, refurbishes them and makes comfortable footwear for the underprivileged. You can know more about them by visiting their website: www.greensole.in.

Step Towards a Brighter Future

Apart from NGOs and the Social entrepreneurs, the opportunity to do Karma or good to others awaits all of us. There is an opportunity for us, as individuals, to be bold and use our unique role as philanthropists to spark, and drive large-scale social change. Whether as a social entrepreneur or by supporting a social cause, each one us has the opportunity to participate and do ‘Karma’(Doing good to others). GOQii, provides the opportunity to do Karma and this can be done by being healthy, fit and earning Karma Points.

At GOQii, our philosophy has been to achieve harmony between mind, body & soul. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s journey of 390 KM, which he started today, for every 390 steps tracked through your activity tracker, you earn 1 Karma Point. These points then get converted into monetary donations by our donor partners.

With the India Steps Challenge, you’re not only walking and earning big rewards but you’re also collecting Karma Points which you can donate to a charity/cause of your choice in the GOQii app! Currently, there are two causes in the GOQii app:

1. Upcycling to Slippers for Children in Need

This cause enables the collection of old shoes and Rs. 199/pair to upcycle them to slippers and donate to children in need. Greensole’s vision is to contribute to social good, by creating a self-sustaining infrastructure that facilitates the provision of the basic necessity of footwear to everyone. Environmental good by refurbishing discarded shoes with zero carbon footprint and economic good by giving employment to refurbish shoes.

2. Trees for Rural Communities, Chintamani, Karnataka

Grow-Trees.com wants to allow users to satisfy a private purpose of greeting someone through an eTreeCertificate, while doing social good by planting trees. With Grow-Trees you can plant trees with just a few clicks and gift them to celebrate festivals, birthdays, anniversaries or other special occasions using their personalized e-certificate. The cost of each tree is INR 85.

Believe me, I can say this from my own experience, doing Karma will only help bring a positive change in your life – a change for the better.

Who knows? One day, you may look back and say, “I was there at the beginning and I made a difference!”

January 31, 2019 By Anusha Subramanian Leave a Comment

How polluted is India? -GOQii India Fit Report 2019

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Pollution is an issue that has been eating away at the heart of India for a long time. According to the GOQii India Fit Report 2019, 9 out of 10 people on Earth breathe highly polluted air and 80% of the people living in the city are often exposed to outdoor pollution that exceeds the health standards of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Among countries that have high levels of air pollution, India leads the way for its consistency in producing hazardous air. The GOQii India Fit Report 2019 conducted a survey among 8 cities to find the most polluted and liveable cities in India. Here is what we found out after carefully analysing the Pollution Index based on three factors i.e Air, Water and Food Pollution.

Pune

Pune was voted as the most liveable city in the country, while Delhi was rated as the worst because of the city’s terrible air quality. Chennai was voted as the city with the worst water quality at (3.3), the only city to have water quality which is worse than air. Chennai is recording poor water quality for the second time in the past two years. Pune, as mentioned before, has the best ratings in terms of food (4.0), water (3.8) and air (3.5) when compared to the other major cities of India. Mumbai has a rating of (3.8) for both food and water, while air quality was rated at (3.0).

Bangalore and Kolkata have the same ranking for air, water and food at 3.8, 3.3 and 2.9 respectively. These two cities were rated with the lowest air quality, only behind Delhi which was rated (1.17).

The India Fit Report 2019 asked people to rate the quality of Air, Water and Food in their cities, out of which Air was voted the worst at (3.0) which shows a dip from last year. Water and Food which was rated higher than Air showed a dip in their trends when compared to last year. This is a very serious situation which should be looked into and necessary actions need to be taken to control this downward trend of Air, Water and Food quality.

Out of all the surveys conducted by the Report, it is safe to conclude that Pune is the most liveable city in India because it recorded the highest ratings in terms of Air, Water and Food quality. Pune is also the second in terms of cities with good air quality, only behind Ahmedabad with a better Pollution Index.