Due to demanding schedules and high stress levels, nearly 78% of the corporate employees sleep less than 6 hours on a daily basis which leads to sleep disorders amongst them, according to a recent survey conducted by ASSOCHAM on the occasion of `World Health Day`.

While releasing the ASSOCHAM survey its Secretary General, D S Rawat said, `Loss of sleep has wide ranging effects including daytime fatigue, physical discomfort, psychological stress, performance deterioration, low-pain threshold and increase absenteeism`.

The survey also shows that women experience more sleep problems than men. More than half of women said they frequently experience a sleep problem.

Around 55 per cent of the survey respondents fall under the age bracket of 20-29 years, followed by 30-39 years (26 per cent), 40-49 years (16 per cent), 50-59 years (2 per cent) and 60-69 years (approximately 1 per cent).

The report included the major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabd, Pune, Chandigarh and Dehradun. A little over 200 employees were selected from each city on an average. Delhi ranks first in insomnia affliction followed by Mumbai, Ahemdabad, Chandigarh, Hyderbad, Pune and Chennai,

The survey was able to target corporate employees from 18 broad sectors, with maximum share contributed by employees from IT/ITes sector (17 per cent).

As per ASSOCHAM`S corporate employees` survey result, 36 per cent of the sample population are also suffering from obesity. It is found that obesity alone can modify occupational morbidity, mortality and injury risks that can further affect workplace absence, disability, productivity and healthcare costs.

Depression is the third disease observed among the respondents, with 21 per cent of the sample corporate employees suffering from it.

High blood pressure (BP) and diabetes are the fourth and fifth largest disease with a share of 12 per cent and 8 per cent respectively as suffered among the corporate employees.

Spondylosis (5.5 per cent), heart disease (4 per cent), cervical (3.0 per cent), asthma (2.5 per cent), slip disc (2 per cent) and arthritis (1 per cent) are the diseases that are mostly suffered by corporate employees.

In terms of physical fitness, it was found that around 47 per cent of the corporate employees say that they `do not exercise`, 23 per cent do physical workout devoting less than 1 hour/week, 15 per cent of the employees exercise for 1-3 hours/week, 8 per cent of employees exercise for 3-6 hours/week and merely 7 per cent stay fit by exercising for more than 6 hours/week

The paper indicates that dedicated workout (exercise) can delay or prevent diabetes, some cancers and heart problems. It even reduces feelings of depression and anxiety. However, lack of exercise may increase risk factor for developing headaches.

Rawat said that taking up corporate wellness program improves chronic and lifestyle diseases of India Inc. This will add to country`s national income up to USD 17.74 billion in 2014-15 through a reduction in absenteeism rate by 1.00 percent.

A workplace wellness program reduces absenteeism, improves presenteeism, controls/reduces escalating health care costs, improves productivity, increases employee loyalty and reduces attrition rate.

There are a number of physical and psychological factors that increase the risk of insomnia: .1. Lifestyle factors (e.g., poor sleep habits, excessive caffeine use) 2. Environmental conditions (e.g., noise, extreme temperatures) 3. Circadian system disruptions (e.g., shift work) 4. Mental health disorders (depression, substance abuse) 5. Medical disorders (e.g., hyperthyroidism, cardiovascular conditions, joint and low back pain) 6. Neurological disorders (e.g., Parkinson`s and Alzheimers` disease) 7. Other sleep disorders (e.g., obstructive sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome) 8. Stress (interpersonal, occupational, financial) 9. Medication use, side effects, and discontinuation

Source: IBNS
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