Corporate employees sleep less than 6 hours in a day
By siliconindia   |   Friday, 09 April 2010, 15:27 IST   |    9 Comments
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Corporate employees sleep less than 6 hours in a day
New Delhi: According to Healthcare Status report brought out by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), about 24 percent of corporate employees sleep less than 6 hours in a day due to high stressed levels that arise out of tough targets set for themselves by employers and cause diseases like hypertension, sugar and many more. D S Rawat, Secretary General, ASSOCHAM pointed out that even National Commission on Sleep Disorders estimates that sleep deprivation costs $150 billion a year in higher stress and reduced workplace productivity. Loss of sleep has also wide ranging effects including daytime fatigue, physical discomfort, psychological stress, performance deterioration and low pain threshold and even increase absenteeism, adds findings of report. ASSOCHAM findings, however, further reveal that 21 percent of respondents say that they feel fatigue on regular basis due to sleep disorders and close to 17 percent of participants in the survey admit that they suffer from regular headache. Sleep disorders cause depression among 13 percent of respondents. In terms of physical fitness, it is found out that 30 percent of corporate employees say that they hardly exercise against 25 percent who physically exercise but for less than 1 hour a week. 24 percent of employees exercise for 1-3 hours a week against 9 percent of employees who exercise for 3-6 hours a week and merely 5 percent stay fit by exercising for more than 6 hours a week. 16 percent of sample population of the report claim that they suffer from obesity. It is found that obesity alone can modify occupational morbidity, mortality and injury risk that can further affect workplace absence, disability, productivity and healthcare costs. Depression is another hit heart disease that is observed among the responds with 11 percent of the sample corporate employees suffering this lifestyle diseases. High blood pressures and diabetes are still another diseases with a share of 9 percent and 8 percent respectively as suffered among corporate employees. Spondolysis (5.5 percent), heart disease (4 percent), cervical (3.0 percent), asthma (2.5 percent), slip disk (2 percent) and arthritis (1 percent) are the diseases that are mostly suffered by corporate employees. According to ASSOCHAM, depression, fatigue and sleeping disorder are conditions or risks that are often associated with chronic diseases and have the largest impact on productivity. It is observed in the report that corporate employees tend to ignore treatment for these chronic conditions. The report has recommended that under Section 17 of Income Tax Act, medical reimbursement to corporate employees should be exempted from tax in respect upto a ceiling of 50,000 per annum and expenditure incurred in approved hospitals should also be fully reimbursed by employers considering increase in cost inflow index.

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