HYDERABAD: The perils of working for extended hours, stress that deadlines at workplace carry and how sedentary lifestyle leads to Non-Communicable Diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and other disorders is long established.
Citing World Economic Forum’s report on ‘Preventing Non Communicable Diseases in workplace through diet and physical activity’, scientists from National Institute of Nutrition in their correspondence published in The Lancet public Health journal November 2018 issue, stated that the economic loss associated with these NCDs in India, in 2005-15, was estimated to be US dollar 200 billion in national income.
Apart from the proportion of professionals in full-time work in India 12 per-cent more than global mean, Indian government with Make in India programme aims to create more employment opportunities in private sector.
Scientist E Dr Subba Rao M Gavaravarapu and Paromita Banerjee, junior research fellow, at NIN stated that although the Indian information technology sector has fueled employment and vast economic opportunities, the work environments and lifestyles that it brought in are partly responsible for exacerbating the already growing rates of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
“Due to long and irregular working hours, night shifts, high work targets, and frequent travel, employees spend approximately a third of their day at work, and they often adopt unhealthy food habits, sedentary lifestyles, and show signs of work stress,” the scientists stated in the correspondence. “Investment in nutrition and wellness programme at workplaces could not only reduce non-communicable diseases (NCDs) but it could also be key for India’s economic success. It is time that workplace wellness is seen as an important public health measure in India ,” they added.