Hyderabad (Telangana) : Sedentary workplace and extreme stress levels are posing serious health hazards for most of the IT employees in Hyderabad, according to study of the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN). As a result, these techies are carrying multiple health risks of developing heart diseases, blood pressure, strokes, diabetes and even hypertension.
The latest study by the city-based NIN researchers said that just 22 percent of software employees reached the recommended intentional physical activity duration of 150 minutes per week. The young IT employees were also vulnerable to these health hazards and it was revealed that they were prone to various types of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like cardiac ailments and cancer.
In the NIN study done on techies aged around an average of 30 years, it was found that nearly 46 per cent of participants had at least three or more of metabolic risk factors including low HDL level and high waist circumference. About half the respondents were found to have metabolic syndrome (MetS) , which indicates presence of three or more of the five main health risk factors - waist circumference of 90 cm or more in men, 80 cm or more in women and triglycerides (TG) levels of 150 mg/dL or more.
The NIN study also revealed that these IT employees were working for more than 8 hours a day on an average while not reaching the recommended levels of physical activity. These findings underscored the need for targetted wellness programmes for the better health and productivity of the software professionals.
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