Chronic Lifestyle Disorders Hit Indian IT Industry

Almost 55% of the young workforce engaged in India's IT and ITeS sector are stricken with lifestyle disorders due to unhealthy eating habits, hectic work schedule, tight deadlines, irregular and associated stress, says a study conducted by Assocham.

With 35% of the total respondents admitting that they visit doctors at least twice a month with complaints of stomach ache, bloating, acidity, etc, while 15% of the respondents blame work related stress leading to compulsive habits like alcohol abuse, substance abuse, smoking, and chewing tobacco. What is adding to the woes is that the IT workforce is not doing much effort to come over the paralyzed lifestyle. When interviewed, 45% of the respondents across these cities said that they do not exercise at all, whereas 30% said that they exercise at least 4 days a week, while only 25% said they follow a strict diet and exercise regime.

"Lack of concern for nutritional value of food, irregular food timings, and frequent snack breaks during office hours together with rampant consumption of greasy, spicy food leads to health problems like diabetes, hypertension, depression, anxiety, and cardiovascular diseases," the study says. Many of these problems arise due to no fixed meal hours and non-stop telephonic sessions, causing gastric problems together with fatigue and headaches.

Nearly 3,000 employees in the age group of 22-30 years were interviewed by the industry body's Social Development Foundation to ascertain the extent of junk food addiction among the techies in India. The survey was carried out in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Noida, and Pune. The employees were largely from BPO companies, IT/ITeS in the domains of FMCG, auto, hospitality, pharma, BFSI, manufacturing, and energy and infrastructure sectors.

Commenting over the study, Assocham's national secretary general DS Rawat says, "Excessive intake of junk food, lack of physical exercise, long working hours, and lack of sleep together with unbound mental fatigue is telling on the health of BPO and IT professionals in the cities." He further said hypertension and stress levels increase manifold due to odd working hours and unhealthy habits, consequently increasing the number of young people suffering from heart problems.

CHARU M

charum@cybermedia.co.in