Prayagraj: Cops adopt yoga to boost efficiency, overcome stress

PRAYAGRAJ: Police personnel in the district are on a new mission these days - to overcome

stress

and fatigue and reduce extra kilos by doing

yoga

and meditation in order to improve their well-being and boost efficiency.

On Thursday, yoga and meditation classes began at the office of inspector general of police (Prayagraj range), in which over 22 personnel took part.

Cops

, of all ranks, will attend the session under the trained yoga expert Ashish Pandey from Friday.

IG (Prayagraj range) Rakesh Singh told TOI, "We have decided to organise yoga and meditation sessions from 6am to 7am... By practising yoga, there will be improvement in physical and mental fitness of policemen."

He said, officers of all ranks will join the sessions. The IG said: "During his previous posting in Devipatan range, he had introduced yoga and meditation sessions, which improved the well-being of the participants. It was observed that none of the policeman fell sick during Covid first and second waves."

"Policemen work for long hours and often suffer from fatigue and stress that also reflected in their behaviour. Thus, yoga will help in de-stressing themselves," he said. Symptoms of stress and fatigue include behavioural change, headache, drowsiness during duty, inability to stand upright, irritation and misbehaviour. Senior cops believe that about 20 to 30% policemen are obese and yoga along with routine exercises and parade will help them to shed flab and be physically and mentally fit.

Those who attended the yoga session on the first day said yoga has undoubtedly eased tension in different ways.

"Keeping our mobile phones away for at least an hour was itself a much-needed relief. Most of us suffer from insomnia and other issues like kidney problems, indigestion, breathing and weight concerns. Policemen stand for long hours, spend sleepless nights, eat unhealthy food from outside and have anxiety issues given the nature of our work. So, yoga and meditation will work wonders for us," said a participant.