MUMBAI :Actress-producer Arushi Nishank says that sports is something that has taken a back seat in everyone’s life now. She says that one has to make an effort to include various sports in our daily life as this will keep us healthy as well.

“I think the main reasons for leaving sports are the health issues that we face. As we grow old, we start taking less care of our health, fitness and diet and that’s why people are showing less interest in games or sports. Some more reasons are lack of skill, fitness, motivation, confidence, interest, doesn't value sport and feeling self-conscious. Another reason is that we are living in a metropolitan city where we have less space, people are living in the society or buildings and not all the buildings have the amenities so these are the reasons. But yes, we can’t compromise with our health and sports are always the best way to keep yourself fit. Unlike the gym, or a play area, there is a big lack,” she says.

She adds, “I think there is always a solution and we should have a will to work on that. Specially in this time, when Covid hit, keeping your body and mind healthy is very important, we can simply replace some small things with physical activities. I remember in my childhood we used to play basketball, kho-kho, now very few people from this generation may know these kinds of sports. It can be rooted through doing not only the mental activities but physical activities too, we have to be a little bit more innovative, for example many MNCs have replaced lifts to stairs and companies also organise cricket matches for their employees… So yes, we have to look for more innovative solutions to revive the sports in our life.

There are easier ways of entertainment, says Arushi, adding, “Around 83% of audiences prefer TV as a platform for consuming sports content. There are some reasons: Big-screen experience – Viewers prefer television for the immersive experience the big screen provides while consuming sports content. With 7x the screen size compared to smartphones, TV allows a far more engaging experience for viewers. Superior audio-visual quality that TV provides creates an enhanced experience for viewers, almost recreating a stadium-like feel for viewers. With sports content providing high-octane entertainment for viewers, TV commands a strong preference as it doesn’t have any persisting distractions that smartphones tend to have through notifications. Sports, as a content genre, attracts collective viewing as an experience for the passion that viewers share for the content. When family and friends come together, TV creates an enhanced shared experience among a group of people that cannot be substituted by a phone screen.”

Schools do encourage sports for children but still a lot of children situationally end up playing more on mobile and computers/ laptops, says Arushi. “It is believed that a healthy body has a healthy mind. Anyone who has seen kids on a playground knows they are the happiest moving about, active and playing. Whether it is playing informally, competitive play or even playing just for fun. However, present day education is largely academic. Persuasively, this positioning needs to be changed for a balanced development through inculcating a health consciousness among students. This includes development at physical, social and mental levels. Schools can integrate physical activity in the classroom through movement, nutrition and health teaching is a great way to promote sport and healthy lifestyles in the classroom. Some of the classroom activities that combine fitness and learning are Hopscotch math and spelling, classroom warm-ups or fitness breaks.”