Effectiveness of Ayurveda-Based lifestyle Advocacies and Practices on Quality of Life among Children of Ekalavya Model Residential Schools in India

In India, an estimated 77 million adults live with diabetes and the country currently has the second-highest number of people with diabetes in the world. Rapid urbanization and consequent lifestyle changes have led to an increased burden of NCDs and by 2030, there are expected to be 101 million adults with diabetes in India.

Lifestyle refers to a set of behaviors that an individual engages in over a period, which may include both health-promoting and health-damaging practices. Individuals who embrace healthy lifestyle behaviors can withstand health risks linked to disability and disease in later life. Health-promoting behaviors are the foundation of disease prevention and maintaining a healthy life

The fact that lifestyle behaviors are established early in life, in childhood and adolescence, and once established, they often persist into adulthood which accentuates the need to promote healthy practices in early life. Therefore, interventions to influence healthier lifestyles may be more effective if implemented in childhood, before unhealthy practices become entrenched in an individual’s lifestyle.

Indulgence in increased unhealthy behaviors such as poor diet, physical inactivity, poor personal hygiene, poor interpersonal relationships, etc., has led to an increase in lifestyle-related problems such as obesity, diabetes, and heart diseases in later life.

Children, who are still developing physically, mentally, and emotionally, are particularly vulnerable to these effects, which further emphasizes the importance of instilling positive healthy habits at a young age to ensure proper growth and development. Moreover, adopting healthy behaviors can improve academic performance, reduce mental health problems reinforce a positive attitude toward life.

School period is found to be an appropriate time for instilling positive attributes and hence school is an appropriate venue to provide the young ones with skills to improve their healthy style behaviors. Studies done in India show a high prevalence of various risk factors related to NCDs among school children. Several school-based interventions to assess the impact of nutrition, lifestyle, and physical education interventions on overweight and obesity in children have been done in the past in developed countries. A few school-based interventions that have been done in India have focused mainly on the urban population.

Despite the efforts of various stakeholders, unhealthy behaviors and lifestyle-related health problems among children remain a major challenge. Various interventions have already been implemented; however, their effectiveness and long-term sustainability remain unclear.

Ayurveda, a system of medicine that originated in the Indian subcontinent, can play a major role in this aspect. The primary aim of Ayurveda is to prevent diseases by following a healthy lifestyle. Ayurvedic approach to a healthy lifestyle includes dinacharya (daily regimen for healthy living), Ritucharya (seasonal regimen for healthy living), Sadvaritta (moral conduct), and Achara Rasayana (social conduct) as well-established guidelines for healthy dietary practices.

Research has shown the positive results of Ayurveda Intervention, Lifestyle modification, and yoga in prediabetic and diabetic patients. Till now no studies to our knowledge that are based on Ayurveda advocacies for healthy lifestyles have been undertaken targeting children and adolescents.

Based on the understanding of the early introduction of positive practices, the present study has been conceptualized with a specific purpose to evaluate the effect of Ayurveda-based lifestyle advocacies and Practices comprising of a multi-component model centered around approaches of Dincharya (daily regimen), Ritucharya (seasonal regimen), Ahar Vidhi Vidhan (dietary behavior), Sadvritta (Mode of conduct) and Yogasana for promoting a holistic healthy lifestyle with an aim of improving quality of life and physical activity among children and adolescents (aged 10 – 18 years) of Eklavya Model Residential Schools.

The positive implication of ayurveda based life style advocacies and practices will observed  in the students of EMRSs