Techies in grip of lifestyle diseases
A majority of the employees involved in IT sector in Hyderabad are prone to haphazard lifestyle, they lack physical activity and are always exposed to extreme workplace stress.
Hyderabad: There are anywhere from 9 lakh to 10 lakh strong IT workforce in Hyderabad, which has generated a revenue of over Rs 2, 41, 275 crore in FY 2022-23 in Telangana.
While the IT employees in Hyderabad have become a veritable engine room driving the economy, public health activists and nutritional health experts here lament that not enough has been done to promote advocacy towards encouraging individuals in the sector to adopt healthy lifestyle and reduce the risk of a potential major surge in non-communicable diseases (NCDs), among the age group of 30 years and 40 years in the coming years.
A majority of the employees involved in IT sector in Hyderabad are prone to haphazard lifestyle, they lack physical activity and are always exposed to extreme workplace stress, a deduction made by researchers from Hyderabad-based National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), after conducting a recent Workplace Wellness Study in the IT sector of Hitec City, Madhapur.
As a result of their vulnerability due to workplace stress and lifestyle, software employees carry the risk of developing heart diseases, blood pressure, diabetes, strokes and other related ailments like chronic kidney and heart diseases, the NIN study that was published in journal Nutrients in August 2023, said.
Gradual change Recognising such challenges, in the last four to five years, several voluntary organisations involved in promoting healthy living through active life, have been collaborating with the HR wings of MNCs, to ensure the IT workforce in Hyderabad inculcate the habit of leading an active lifestyle.
“There has been a lot of positive change in terms of adopting an active lifestyle but a lot more has to be done. In the last few years, we have been engaging with top IT companies to form employee groups, who together involve in physical activity like working-out in gym, running, Yoga sessions, walking and even attending orientation sessions on healthy living. However, I feel, there is a lot of more work to be done,” says Rajesh Vetcha, founding president of Hyderabad Runners.
The NIN study revealed that IT workforce (between 26 years and 35 years) were prone Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) which leads to NCDs. The MetS is defined as the presence of three or more of the five important risk factors including waist circumference of 90 cm or more in men, 80 cm or more in women, Triglycerides (TG) levels of 150 mg/dL or more, High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL-C) level.
