Lifestyle choices, workplace culture, and family situations are critical for productivity and if India’s economic ambitions are to be met, immediate attention must be given to lifestyle choices that are often made during childhood/youth, said the Economic Survey 2024-25 tabled in Parliament by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Mental well being is the ability to navigate life’s challenges and function productively. ”Mental well-being encompasses all our mental-emotional, social, cognitive, and physical capabilities. This can also be construed as the mind’s composite health,” the Survey said.

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The Survey highlights that lifestyle choices, workplace culture, and family situations are critical for productivity and if India’s economic ambitions are to be met, then immediate attention must be given to lifestyle choices that are often made during childhood/youth.

It highlights that the increase in mental health issues in children and adolescents is often linked to the overuse of the internet and, specifically, social media. Giving reference to Jonathan Haidt’s book ‘The Anxious Generation: How the great rewiring of children is causing an epidemic of mental illness’, the Survey emphasises that the arrival of the “phone-based childhood” is rewiring the very experience of growing up.

The Survey said a better workplace culture would lead to better mental well-being, adding that lifestyle choices and family situations also play a significant role in mental well-being.

It stated that individuals, who rarely consume ultra-processed or packaged junk food, have better mental well-being than those who regularly do. The Survey said those who rarely exercise, spend their free time on social media or are not close to their families have worse mental well-being and spending long hours at one’s desk is equally detrimental to mental well-being.

The Survey highlighted that low levels of mental well-being is worrying, the ramifications of these trends on the economy are equally disturbing. The document also said that hostile work cultures and excessive hours spent working at the desk can adversely affect mental well-being and ultimately put the brakes on the pace of economic growth.

The Survey emphasised the urgent need for school and family-level interventions to encourage healthy pastimes meeting with friends, playing outside, investing time in building close family bonds would go a long way in keeping children and adolescents away from the internet and improving mental well-being.

The Survey stated that returning to our roots may allow us to reach further for the skies in terms of mental health. It noted that given the direct costs to human welfare and the spirit and sentiment of the nation, putting mental well-being at the centre of the economic agenda is prudent and the scale of the problem is immense.

The document stated that it is about time to find viable, impactful preventive strategies and interventions as India’s demographic dividend is riding on skills, education, physical health and, above all, mental health of its youth.