“It's been a hard day's night, and I should be sleeping like a log” sang the Beatles in the 1960s.
Almost 50 years since, ‘sleeping like a log' seems a dream for 78 per cent of corporate sector employees, who are suffering from sleep disorders, says a survey.
“Due to demanding schedules and high stress levels, corporate employees are sleeping less than six hours a day,” says the survey by the Associated Chambers of Indian Industry (Assocham).
The problem is more common among women, who face the dual burden of balancing work and family.
More than half of the women employees surveyed said they frequently experienced sleep problems.
Effects
“Loss of sleep has effects including daytime fatigue, physical discomfort, psychological stress, performance deterioration, low-pain threshold and increased absenteeism”, said D.S Rawat, Secretary General, Assocham.
Insomnia is most prevalent among younger employees in Delhi, followed by Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai, as more than half the respondents were between ages 20 and 29.
When asked about physical fitness, 47 per cent corporate employees said they ‘do not exercise'. Nearly 38 per cent took sick leave in the range of one-seven days. Absenteeism was mainly owing to acute diseases such as influenza, cold and flu, fever (including malaria, viral and dengue), or severe headache.
In a telling reflection of lifestyle imbalance, the survey found 36 per cent respondents were obese, 21 per cent suffered from depression, 12 per cent had high blood pressure, and 8 per cent were diabetic.
Wellness programme
Stressing wellness programmes in corporate workplaces, the survey observed that 42 per cent out of the top 500 Indian companies ignore employee healthcare as they do not offer any wellness programme.
‘Taking up corporate wellness programmes will add to country's national income up to $17.74 billion in 2014-15 through a reduction in absenteeism rate by one 1.00 per cent,” Rawat said.
The survey covered 18 sectors and covered 200 employees in each city, with the maximum employees belonging to the IT and ITeS sector (17 per cent).