Can Meditation Centres Be a Good Business Idea Post Covid?

Meditation or the process of focusing the mind helps to heal and control the mind. Almost every religion founded in the Indian subcontinent, including Judaism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and, of course, Buddhism is related to meditation. Followers from all these religions used meditation techniques to conquer their daily life problems and live happy and healthy life. It is believed that mediation is the way to form coordination between body and soul.

Apart from the religious aspects, meditation also has numerous medical benefits. Doctors recently started to emphasize more on meditation and mindfulness due to their medical effects on the brain. Further, some researchers also found that meditation practices strengthen the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for awareness, concentration, and decision-making.

Harvard Medical School conducted a study in 2011 that examined the effects of mindfulness and meditation on the brain. The study found mindfulness increases the ability of the brain to process new information. During an eight-week meditation program, 17 people had their brains examined. The grey matter was observed to be increased in the areas of the brain that control learning, memory, and emotions.

Why do People in India need it?

In India, there are multiple variations as per area and so is the status of mental health. Approximately 197.3 million people suffered from mental disorders in India in 2017, of which, 45.7 million suffered from depressive disorders and 44.9 million from anxiety disorders. Diseases depend on the area also. People from Tier 1 and 2 cities tend to be weaker and show negative signs in comparison of those living in the urban areas. For example, the anxiety rate in Delhi and Mumbai is higher as compared to people living in mountains like Dehradun and Shimla.

Development

Extreme industrialization and urbanization have stuffed the human brain with anxiety and nausea. The high workload in fast-forward cities decreases the amount of sleep people get. It destroys the equilibrium of working patterns of the brain and provokes the feelings of isolation. Flexible schedules are another cause of the same problem.

Migration

Urbanization causes migration. Whether for a job or study, migrating from one place to another can be a serious problem responsible for anxiety and mental disorders. People going from their hometown to big cities cause Neophobia and this sudden environmental change causes depression.

Pre and Post-pandemic Scenarios

According to a new study, mental strain levels have risen and resulted in 43 per cent of Indians suffering from depression after the covid outbreak. Due to the continuous implementation of lockdowns, job cuts, and loss of lives, people went into a mental dilemma of extreme fear. Those who lost their loved ones due to the covid started feeling alone with no reason to live. Also, a number of daily wage workers were not able to go home. All the above scenarios impacted mental health at worse.

A study done on more than 24,000 people in south India, using Patient Health Questionnaire-12, reported more than 15.1 per cent of people to be severely depressed due to personal and family reasons.

Age and Anxiety

As found in another study, performed by Nandi et al., depression is the most common mental illness among old age patients. The study included samples of 183 subjects having 85 males and 98 females. It reported that 60 per cent of the population is mentally unwell, showing a high rate in women at 77.6 per cent as compared to men at 42.4 per cent.

The number of people affected by depression worldwide was 322 million in 2015. About 57 million or 18 per cent of those affected lived in India. Depression is not solely caused by one biological, social, economic, cultural, or environmental factor. The worst-case scenario can result in suicide.        

Less Number of Mental Health Professionals

Mental health professionals are in short supply in India - there are only 0.07 psychiatrists for every 1,000 people and 0.12 psychiatric nurses. These professionals often lack training or are not adequately trained to deal with depression. There are also no uninterrupted supplies of essential psychotropic drugs, referral systems, or counselling services for patients in the country.

Conclusion

If you are thinking of opening a business, to get a high profit with low investment, you can blindly go for a meditation centre. High levels of stress in youngsters and even in the old people, can lead to good profit in meditation centres. By opening and providing good service as a meditation centre, you can help people to conquer their problems of anxiety and depression.