By Aashish Mishra
Kathmandu, Sept. 25: Every day, Amrita Pradhan wakes up exactly at 5 am, goes to the living room of her house, puts on some soothing Sitar music and starts her daily yoga. This has been the routine of the 43-year-old homemaker from Thasikhel, Lalitpur for the past three months.
“I started yoga from early June,” said Pradhan. But why? Having, as she herself admitted, never practised yoga for much of her life, what made her pick it up now? “I want to do all I can to maintain my health during the pandemic so that I don’t have to go to hospital,” she answered.
Electrician Himal Basnet has also adopted similar measures to stay healthy. The 63-year-old is a permanent resident of Aathabis Municipality of Dailekh but currently lives in Thankot, Kathmandu and he has taken up meditation and breathing exercises to maintain his fitness. “I want to do as much as possible to stay fit at home.”
Just like Pradhan and Basnet, many people have started taking care of their health for the past six months, paying attention to their diet, doing exercises and more, as a way to build up immunity and avoid contracting COVID-19 but also to prevent any other diseases or ailments that might force them to go to hospital.
“People should focus on enough sleep, stay hydrated, eat fruits and take enough exercise,” said Pharmacist Gaurav Karki, adding, “But at the same time, if anyone does fall ill and needs medical care then they should visit the hospital. While the ideal scenario would be not falling sick at all, falling sick and not visiting a proper healthcare institution is not wise.”
Meanwhile, people are also starting to turn to herbs and domestic remedies. Taxi Driver Bishwonath Gajurel shared with The Rising Nepal that he had stocked Giloy at his home and that he and his family drank two cups of hot water with honey every day. “I want to maintain a good health,” he said.